Merlin at Hogwarts Book 4
by weir'wyvern-85
Summary: The Triwizard Tournament. A chance for fame, glory, and gold for anyone old enough and crazy enough to put their name into the drawing. More old friends come back in a new way and this year will prove to be just as exciting as the others. DISCAIMER: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR MERLIN
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, if you've already read this, I have made some changes—mostly adding in imagery and things like that, the plot is the same so you do not have to reread it. What I uploaded at first was just me getting out of my writers block.**

His arm swung back and forth, carrying her hand in his as they walked under the canopy of brightly colored leaves, some of them gently falling to the floor like snow. Sunlight streamed through the trees as they thinned, signaling they were close to the clearing.

Her hand tightened around his and pulled him to a stop. Merlin turned to look at her, and as he did so, it was as though a candle had been blown out, leaving them in darkness with only the thin light of the moon instead of the burning light of the sun.

"Freya?"

"It was your fault!" he could no longer see her but he still felt her hand in his, holding him in place.

"Freya?" he asked desperately. It was her voice, he would know it anywhere, but there was something harsh about it. The nails on her hands started digging into his skin, digging deeper and deeper as though they were growing longer.

"It was your fault Merlin, you're why we were out there, but nothing happened to you, did it?" her voice was closer to his ear, hot breath spilling over his neck as he tried to back. He stopped, finding himself pressed with his back up against something hard and unyielding.

"Please, I'm sorry…" he tried to plead, his eyes were trying to find a darker shadow in the darkness, to find where she was " I didn't—"

"What?" she asked, glowing golden eyes so unlike his when he used magic, but so similar at the same time "you didn't know? That's a lie!"

"Please…." The eyes were the only thing he could see and they pierced his heart with a cold agony.

"You knew about him" her voice pressed on his ears.

"You knew it was the full moon" her hand slid out of his to land on his shoulder, her other hand mimicking the same action.

"You let me follow you into the woods anyway" her body was caging him against the wall at his back.

"Now I'm cursed," her eyes shifted and she was looking down towards his neck "and it's your fault Merlin".

"Freya, I never wanted to hurt you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" he was crying, but he could feel no tears on his cheeks, only the hot, angry breaths on his neck as Freya came closer.

"You want to fix this?" she asked, and he felt her lips brushing gently against the skin along his neck, her teeth grazing gently across.

He nodded his head, his cheek brushing along the top of her head.

"Then become a monster yourself!"

A sharp pain pierced his neck and he could not stop the scream that escaped his lips.

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"Merlin!" he heard someone shouting at him. He opened his eyes to see Gwaine hovering over him; both of his hands on Merlin's shoulder from where he had shook him awake.

"Gwaine!" he shouted, pulling himself out of the other boy's hold.

"You alright mate," he asked taking a step back as Merlin sat up in his bed "you were screaming like someone was trying to kill you"

"Fine, just a nightmare" Merlin assured him.

"Must have been some nightmare" Gwaine commented his mischievous smile lighting up his face.

"Well he should be used to it by now," a voice said from the doorway. Behind them Arthur was leaning against the doorframe, his hair mussed from sleep.

"He's been having these dreams since a week after we got home" Arthur added.

"Ah, and the princess shows his face" Gwaine said jovially, extending his arms and turning to look at Arthur with an amused expression "with such a big house, it was hard enough to find this sleeping beauty even with all of his screaming"

"If you're done with the princess jokes, I'm sure Gaius is waiting with breakfast downstairs" Arthur commented with amusement barely concealed behind his narrowed eyes

"Ah, sorry lads, that's what I came up here to tell you. Gaius got tired of waiting on your lazy bums to come down, so he let me eat all your food" Gwaine chuckled as Merlin threw one of the pillows off of his bed at the boys head.

"I wondered why I thought you looked different, Gwaine. I'd be careful if I were you, you're starting to get as big a belly as Arthur over there" Merlin smirked at the two boy's affronted looks.

"Hey!" Arthur protested, pushing away from the wall.

"You should take your own advice Merlin, comparing me and the princess here… not your best idea" Gwaine warned as Arthur moved to his side.

"Think the two of you can take me on, do you?" Merlin asked raising his eyebrows and standing up. He was glad they had already made Gwaine forget about his dream, he did not want to explain it to someone else. If the dreams were hard, explaining them was torture.

"In a fair fight" Arthur said.

"We'd beat you every time" Gwaine added matter-of-factly.

Gwaine had grown a foot since they had seen them, with perhaps a little exaggeration thrown in. His hair was longer, framing his face as usual. He was wearing normal muggle clothes and the same silver charm around his neck as always. Merlin had never found out what made the charm so special, but he knew his friend always wore it.

Arthur next to him was just as tall, though Merlin was sure he had hardly changed since they had got back from school. His blonde hair was hanging lower than usual, almost in his eyes. He too, was wearing muggle clothes and a charm around his neck, though it was more than an ordinary charm.

An ornately designed sword inscribed with runes hung around the boy's neck. It was the same sword he had pulled from a stone in the dark woods two years ago, enchanted by Merlin to hang around his neck until he called on it.

"Well, too bad it's not fair then" Merlin chuckled before letting his eyes flash gold and making the rug under the boy's feet pull away. The two boys toppled to the ground giving Merlin time to run out of the door. Both quickly regained their footing and ran after him.

"Slow down," Gaius said as the three boys rushed into his kitchen. The room was small compared to the rest of the house, cluttered with herbs, potions, cauldrons and hundreds of books on medicinal plants and magical remedies. The old man was sitting at the kitchen table, his fork raised halfway to his mouth when he shouted at the three teens.

"Gaius, have any owls come today?" Arthur asked stopping abruptly and making Gwaine knock into his back.

"Sorry Arthur, nothing's come" Gaius said, standing up with his now plate and moving to the sink "sit down and eat your breakfast before it gets cold"

"Waiting on an important letter?" Gwaine asked, rubbing his forehead and taking a seat at the head of the table while Merlin and Arthur sat on either side of him.

Gwaine had come over to spend the week with them to listen to the Quidditch World Cup as it was announced over the radio which was supposed to start midday the next day. Everyone had been talking about it for weeks and it had been the main article in the _Daily Prophet_ for an even longer time.

"Morgana is supposed to write. She's been over at the Malfoy's for a week now and she said she would write before she went to the World Cup" Arthur replied before shoveling a fork full of food into his mouth.

"Wait," Gwaine said, stopping his own forkful a few centimeters from his mouth "you didn't tell me she was getting to go to the World Cup with them"

"Yeah, free ride and everything" Merlin pitched in past a mouthful of food "she even gets to get sit in the 'Top Box' with the Minister of Magic"

"The Minister of Magic?" Gwaine asked, looking skeptical.

"She _is_ with the Malfoy's" Gaius reminded them taking a seat at the table again. "They're important people after all. People who know how to get into important positions"

"Kiss ups you mean" Gwaine commented and Gaius did not correct him.

"Yeah well, that's obvious from looking at their spoiled kids" Arthur said.

"Works pretty well for them" agreed Gwaine.

"Especially with Snape" Arthur added.

"C'mon, Professor Snape's not so bad" Merlin said.

"Just because he goes easy on you does not mean he's a good guy" Gwaine corrected.

"Severus is a complicated person, and really, it must be quite a stressful job dealing with so many of you for so long" Gaius told them earning him a few reproachful looks which he just smiled at.

"I still say he's a right git" Arthur commented "I mean really, did he need to give us so many essays over the summer?"

"It keeps you from forgetting everything he taught you in the school year" Gaius said "otherwise you'd come back no more experienced than the first years"

"He does that anyway" Gwaine said happily making a face at Arthur.

"Like you're any better" Arthur snapped back.

"Um, Gaius… I think there's a person's head in your fire, of course it's kind of hard to see past Arthur's giant head"

Merlin almost choked at Gwaine's joke and barely stopped it from happening again when he saw the head the boy had pointed out. Like he said, a man's head was floating in the flames, close cropped hair and the startings of a five o' clock shadow around his cheek bones.

"What?" Gaius asked, turning in his chair to see the man in the fire "Tom?"

"Gaius, nice to see you" Tom said amusement playing behind his words.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" the older man asked turning his full attention to the fire.

"Well, I was wondering if you would be willing to pay me a quick visit… all of you…."

Gaius spared a quick glance over his shoulder at the three curious boys behind him, all looking back with eyes pleading to be allowed to tag along.

"I don't see any problem with it…." Gaius trailed off. The man nodded happily, turning his head away for a moment "the kids said they can't wait to see you all"

"You're Guinevere and Elyan's father aren't you?" Arthur asked suddenly. Merlin looked from his brother back to the man. There was a resemblance, especially in the nose and Gwen had said that her father's name was Tom.

"Yes, I am," the man replied , looking at Arthur "I am also a good friend of Gaius's… and his family's"

With a curious look at the fire Gaius stood up and motioned for the three boys to come towards the fire "I'll send them through Tom, you might want to stand back"

The head nodded again before it pulled back and vanished. Gaius pulled a clay pot full of green powder down from the mantle over the fire place and held it out to Gwaine.

"You've traveled by floo powder before I take it?" he asked and Gwaine nodded his head.

"The Cauldron," Gaius said, indicating what Gwaine should say "they'll be waiting on you"

"Right" Gwaine said taking a fist full of the green powder and throwing in onto the fire. It burst up into green billowing tongues reaching for the boy. Obligingly, Gwaine walked forward into the grate, the flames surrounding his body before announcing loudly "The Cauldron".

In a twirl of limbs Gwaine vanished and the fire turned back to its normal orange red. They stood for a moment in silence before Gaius turned back to the two remaining boys.

"Arthur, go ahead" Gaius nodded toward the fire. The boy stepped forward, and just like Gwaine threw the floo powder into the fire, stepped in and yelled his destination. Once more, they waited a moment until they moved.

"Your turn Merlin" the physician said, offering the clay pot to him. With a small nod, he took a fistful of the powder into his hand, the grains rough against his skin. With a flick of his wrist he threw powder into the heart of the fire. The flames exploded upwards and turned the same brilliant green as before, licking out of the grate for the next person it would be ferrying across the connected grates of wizarding homes. The boy stepped forward into the fire which surrounded him tickling his skin like a thousand fingers but did not burn as he halfway expected. Pulling in to himself, worried that the flames would remember their normal nature he yelled out "the Cauldron".

It was as nauseating as the first time Gaius had taught him to travel by the green powder. The grate came faster than expected and he barely stopped himself in time, but he found himself kneeling on the soft, carpeted floor of the Coote's living room floor, six people looking at him.

Guinevere stood at the front, a smile bright on her face, her dark, curly hair held in a knot at the back of her neck. She held out her hand and pulled him to his feet and into a hug before he had time to breath. Elyan came up next to his sister and pat his back in greeting as she squealed into his ear "Merlin!"

"Nice to see you Gwen" he said as he hugged her back. She had also grown taller, though not as noticeably as Elyan who looked nearly as tall as his dad who was standing back slightly, watching with a smile on his face. Behind him a woman was looking on with her hands kneading shyly at the hem of her shirt which looked like a normal muggle shirt.

"Mr. Coote" Merlin said politely and the man nodded his head. Gwen and Elyan stepped back, though Gwen stayed near enough to keep her hand in his.

The woman behind Tom had long dark hair falling down her back, blue eyes that looked ready to burst into tears even as she smiled so widely he was sure her mouth must ache. He knew that smile, it was one he wore often.

Gaius, who he had not heard exit the fireplace, stepped up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder "Merlin, this is Hunith. Your mother."

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**Hope you guys enjoyed, and I am hoping I will be able to update this faster than the last book, but it still will not be as fast as the first book, sorry. Please review and thanks for sticking with the story. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I know I've put this in two other places, but just so you know, I did redo the first chapter. Nothing has changed, it's just extended. **

Hunith's eyes were locked on Merlin. Her eyes had not left him since he had stepped out of the fireplace. Now though, instead of her staring at him in front of everyone else, it was only her, Gaius, and Merlin sitting around the Coote's kitchen table.

No one was talking and the silence was deafening, Merlin though was not about to be the one to break the silence. They continued to stare at one another, their eyes taking in every part of each other.

She was slim and tall, though not extraordinarily so, with dark brown hair that was closer to black that cascaded in waves down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were a dark blue that mirrored Merlin's own and her smile was like an older version of his, bright and contagious.

"Hunith…." Gaius finally said quietly "what are you doing here?"

She tore her eyes away from her son to look at the old physician. Tears brimmed at the edges of her eyes threatening to spill over "Gaius… it's so good to see you"

"As it is to see you" Gaius replied kindly "but why did you come here Hunith? Why come to Tom?"

She put her hand on top of the table, clasping them together "Balinor was always good friends with Tom, I knew he would not turn me away"

"Why did you need to find a friend?" Gaius asked slowly. Merlin could hear the tone in his voice, the one he would get when he asked a question he did not want to know the answer too, but knew he had to know.

Hunith took in a shuddering breath, her eyes closing tightly for a moment before she could open them again to look at her older brother. They were red rimmed and full of pain but held Gaius's eye unflinchingly.

"He's dead" she took another breath "Balinor's dead"

She said it quickly but without any room to question what she had said. Merlin felt his heart drop a little. He had found his mother, or rather she had found him, and it was to tell her brother that Merlin's biological dad was dead.

Gaius was shaking his head back and forth "how?"

"He was coming to visit me…. We separated after we gave Merlin up, but we stayed in touch.

"He was murdered. We don't know who did it, but apparently it was the same MO as a bunch of recent murders. According to the police report, he was shot five times. They found a wooden stick with some kind animal heart tissue inside of it broken in half a few yards from his body… that was the only evidence.

"Over the past year, fifteen people have been found murdered like this. From what I can tell… they all had magic… there are records of dozens of murders where the victim is found near a piece of broken wood with some kind of center tissue or hair or some other material.

"Someone is killing wizards"

Merlin looked to Gaius but the man would not meet his eyes.

"He's truly dead…"

She nodded her head "I had to tell you Gaius. You know what this means… not just the killings, but the other…."

"I understand…. I do not think this will change anything as of yet though" he mumered before looking back to Hunith with some horror.

"There have been no reports about wizard murders in the _Daily Prophet_"

Hunith shook her head "I've not been receiving the paper since Balinor left me. I thought you must have known and Balinor had wanted to protect me by not telling me"

Gaius shook his head "No, there has been no news of this. I need to report this to the Ministry" he looked between Hunith and Merlin.

"It's fine Gaius, I want to talk with her for a while" Merlin said looking up at his uncle. The old man gave a stiff nod before leaving the room, presumably to write a letter to the Ministry. He kept his eyes trained on the doorway Gaius had left for a moment longer before turning back to his mother.

"I'm truly sorry" she said as his eyes met hers again.

"What?" he asked, slightly confused at the sudden apology.

"I never wanted to give you up Merlin, but I'll understand If you don't believe me" she said quietly as she watched his face for any emotions.

"Why did you then?" he asked. From the look on her face the question seemed to hit hard, but he did not take it back.

"When I was pregnant with you, we were in the middle of a war. Muggles and mudbloods were killed without mercy, preyed upon by those that followed the Dark Lord. Your father… was a powerful wizard, one who was being watched by his followers… the Death Eaters"

"Death Eaters?" Merlin asked uncertainly.

"That is what they called themselves" Hunith answered. "Your father was scared that if they found you, a mudblood, they would kill you or use you against him, so he begged me to send you away. To send you to safety"

"Is that why the two of you broke up?" the boy asked.

"It is why we never got back together" his mother answered.

"I don't understand" he shook his head at her answer.

"We gave you away before the Dark Lord was defeated, and by that time, it was too late to get you back. When I looked at Balinor, I would be reminded of you. My son, growing up in a strangers home, away from his parents, probably hating them. It was too much. I loved him, but I could no longer be with him" she answered.

"It wasn't so bad" Merlin lied, seeing she needed to hear that his life was not as horrible as she feared.

"I know Ygraine was a wonderful woman, from what few times I had met her, but still I worried. It does make me wonder now though… why are you with Gaius?"

"Ygraine died when she gave birth to Arthur… my brother" Merlin answered.

Hunith brought a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes in remorse "I'm so sorry to hear that… I cannot tell you how much…."

"We're staying with Gaius while Uther deals with some work issues. He felt he was not paying enough attention to us…" Merlin made up quickly. He did not want to make this woman suffer any more than she already was.

"That's kind of him" she whispered, still mourning the news about Ygraine.

"Hunith…." She looked at him, bringing her eyes away from the table where they had strayed to when he had told her about Ygraine.

"I'm sorry, I just zoned out a little. It's been a long day" she said, smiling sadly at Merlin.

He shook his head "It's fine. I just wanted to ask…. What are you going to do now?"

Her eyes widended for a moment before settling back into their normal expression "With so many murders lately… I can't take you with me"

Merlin shook his head again "I don't want to leave Gaius, even if you were offering. I just wanted to know…."

"If I was going to leave again?" she asked, anticipating his question. He nodded his head in agreement. "Would you like that?"

"I would like the chance to get to know you" he answered.

She smiled warmly at him "I cannot promise I will always be here, but I will promise to be in your life"

Merlin smiled back at her "Thanks"

Gaius walked back into the room, a letter held in his hands "Merlin, I've been asked to report to the Ministry over the deaths of the fifteen wizards. Tom has agreed to watch you and the others until the World Cup has been finished"

"Okay" he said, looking over his shoulder at the physician.

Hunith stood up from her place at the table "I should be going as well"

"Would you like me to occupancy me to your house?" Gaius asked.

"I do not want to take you away from the Ministry" she answered.

"It's no trouble" he answered, moving over to place a hand on the woman's shoulder "I haven't seen you in so long"

She nodded her head and then moved out of Gaius's hand to wrap Merlin in her arms. "I am so glad to meet you. I had hopped you would be like your father, and it seems I got my wish"

Merlin returned the hug, waiting for her to pull away before he stepped away from the table.

"I'll see you when the game is finished, my boy" Gaius said.

"Okay Gaius" Merlin responded, watching as the man led his mother out of the small house before turning to find his way to the living room.

It took him a few tries, but he finally found his friends sitting in a large room around a fireplace, Gwaine and Gwen playing Wizard's chess on the carpet while Elyan and his father groomed a broomstick, polishing the handle and clipping twisted bristles.

Arthur sat at the end of a tan sofa, looking up as Merlin entered. He gave his brother a small smile which the dark haired boy returned. He knew it must be hard for Arthur who had lost both of his parents, to watch as his brother found his mother. For now though, he could only see the sympathy in the other boy's eyes.

He walked over and sat down next to Arthur.

"How'd it go?" he asked quietly.

Merlin shrugged "It hasn't really hit me yet"

Arthur nodded "Is she going to take you with her?"

Merlin shook his head "No, I'm staying with Gaius, even if she wanted too"

"I'm glad. Not that you aren't going with her, but that you're staying with Giaus… you mean the world to her, you know?"

Merlin smirked at his brother "Oh, that's why you're glad?"

"Of course, why else would I be?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe you'd miss me or something?"

"Right, and why would I miss you?" Arthur sneered.

"Did you ever get a letter from Morgana?" Merlin asked, changing the subject before they could get farther into their argument.

"Yes, actually. It came about five minutes ago" he answered, handing over a piece of parchment.

Merlin unfolded the crisp paper addressed from their sister.

_Arthur and Merlin,_

_ It's been such a good week already, and we haven't even gotten to the World Cup yet. Morgause has been helping me with my homework, she's even given me a few pointers about what to expect this year from our teachers. It's going to be really difficult with our O.W.L.'s so I hope the both of you are studying. _

_ Draco has been giving me some help with my potions essays. He's really good at the subject, and I wish the two of you would give him a chance._

_ Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy have been so kind and they've asked to keep me over until it's time to board the train. I hope you'll tell Gaius that I've accepted and not to worry about me. They've also said that they would take me to get all of my school supplies. _

_ I'm sorry I won't be there to collect my money when Ireland takes the cup tomorrow, but I expect you to pay up. _

_ I probably won't write again until we get back from the World Cup, but I promise I will by the time we get our school letters._

_Love, _

_Morgana Pendragon_

"Well at least she's getting her homework done" Merlin said, handing the letter back to Arthur.

Arthur snorted "Yeah, and she's getting some pointers about how to suck up in potions"

Merlin laughed "She's been better at potions since the moment she walked into the dungeons on the first day than Draco"

"Don't tell him that" Arthur commented "or else little Draco will go run to his daddy"

Merlin rolled his eyes "Or his big sister"

"That'd be worse than his dad" agreed Arthur.

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**Well, chapter 2 is here, please review because that would just be great. Hope you're enjoying the story!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Merlin," Gwaine called "It's starting"

"You said that an hour ago, Gwaine" Merlin said as he walked into the living room, Gwen following behind him.

"It did, but you thought the pre-game stuff was boring or something" the other boy shrugged his shoulders before laying down next to the radio which they had moved to the center of the room. Arthur was sitting in the floor leaning against the wall. Elyan was sitting with his back against the legs of the sofa where his father was sitting with his head in his hand.

Gwen moved to sit next to Arthur with her back against the wall, extending her legs so that they were next to Gwaine's. Merlin took a seat next to Elyan wrapping his arm around one knee while extending the other leg.

"So what's happened?" Gwen asked, looking at Gwaine who was staring intently at the radio.

"They've just announced that Ludo Bagman is about to start the game" Elyan replied when Gwaine continued to stare at the radio which was going on about an ad for the newest model of Cleansweep broomsticks.

"Who's Ludo Bagman?" Merlin asked which earned him a strange look from all of his friends before Tom answered.

"He's the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports"

"It's starting" Gwaine hissed at them.

Another voice started speaking on the radio, cutting the ad off midsentence "Alright everyone, it looks our Head of the Magical Games and Sports Department is about to call the match to a start…."

"Ladies and gentlemen…." Another voice, this one a booming voice that sounded like it was echoing across a large are came over the air "welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

Hundreds of clapping hands made a thrumming hum take up over the other end of the radio as everyone in the stands went wild. Shouts and bangs could be heard between the cheers as people showed their support, waiting for the two teams to come flying out onto the field.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" Again the radio was filled with the static of hundreds of cheering fans which slowly faded as the original speaker came back on.

"And the Bulgarians certainly had a treat waiting for us tonight. VEELA! That's right folks, they brought nearly a hundred veela out to dance for us and the crowd is going wild…."

"What are vela?" Gwen asked, looking up at her father who had a slightly envious look on his face which he quickly hid when his daughter turned her attention to him.

"They're a type of magical creature which lures unsuspecting men in with their beauty and charm" her father answered in a voice that sounded as though he had memorized the answer from a book.

"Wish I was lucky enough to be there" commented Gwaine, attention still turned toward the radio.

"Look at them dance," the reporter went on in an awed voice "it's certainly a sight to see. Marvelous, that dance was simply amazing, and it looks like Ireland has some quite a few fans they need to win back, and I think they're about to get their chance…"

"And now," said the loud, echoing voice of Ludo Bagman "kindly put your wands in the air… for the Irish National Team Mascots!"

"Oh, and here they come!" announced the reporter "leprechauns! A beautiful light show as they fly in on broomsticks, the organization it must take…. And now it seems they're dropping hundreds of galleons into the stands, well aren't they lucky?" he asked laughing into the microphone.

"They're throwing galleons into the crowd?" Arthur asked in amazement.

Tom snorted from his place on the couch "Leprechaun gold, those people are going to be angry the next day when they find it's disappeared. It doesn't last long, just enough to get people on the Irish's side"

"It looks like the Irish have got their fans back" the reporter announced. "And now the leprechauns are settling down across the field from the veela, ready for their teams to come out and give it their all"

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welfocme—the Bulgairoan National Quidditch Team!" screamed Bagman "I give you—Dimitrov!"

The crowd exploded in sound as the player flew out onto the field "Ivanova! Zograf! Levski! Vuchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand—_Krum!_"

If the crowd had exploded before, then it was deafening now. At the mentioning of Krum's name, the audience went into a frenzy of cheering and shouting and sending up loud noises with their wands. He must have made at least two circuits around the pitch for how long the crowd kept up their cheer.

"And now, please greet—the Irish Natinal Quidditch Team!" he said when the crowd had died down somewhat "Presenting—Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! Aaaaaand—_Lynch!_"

Again the people roared, but not nearly as loud as for Krum.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" Bagman yelled out the introduction making the people send up another cheer.

"Mostafa walks out to the center of the field as the players take their positions, they all look completely focused, they've all come here to win" said the reporter. "He's reached the center now, aaaand…."

"Theeeeeeeeey're OFF!" finished Bagman's voice. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"

He kept naming off the people, the game going so fast he had no time to say exactly what was happening. Everyone in the small living room was leaning forward intently, waiting impatiently for the first goal, for the next play, for anything the announcer had to say.

"TROY SCORES!" Bagman yelled and the small room erupted in a cheer along with the people in the stands "Ten zero to Ireland!"

"And there go the mascots, cheering on their team with another spectacularly organized shamrock" the original announcer said before the air went back to Bagman's commentary.

Within ten minutes of listening, Ireland had scored two more points and Bagman could hardly keep up to tell the listening audience all of what was going on.

"Bulgaria scores!" Bagman shouted over an enchanting music floating through the radio which Merlin assumed to be the veela.

"Luckily, it's not quite as potent when you're listening through something else" Tom stated as he looked at the radio as though wishing it were a veela.

"Dimitrov! Ivanova—oh I say!" roared Bagman as the commentary went back to the original reporter. Krum and Lynch are diving together right through their teammates, they're heading right on a collision course for the ground going way too fast—OH! That must have hurt. Krum pulled out at the last second, leaving Lynch flying right into the ground.

"It's time out!" yelled Bagman "as trained meidwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!"

It only took a few minutes before they had Lynch back in the air and the game resumed, but it was going worse than before. With tensions rising higher now, the two teams were taking drastic measures.

Beaters seemed unable to tell the difference between bludgers and the other team's heads. Fifteen minutes in, against Bulgaria's best efforts, Ireland had scored ten more goals.

With each new goal, the mascots would cheer on their teams, laughing and jeering at the other mascots, and with Ireland so far in the lead, the veela were starting to get tired of it. At one point they began to sing again, entrancing the referee who had to be kicked my a mediwizard to bring him back to his right mind.

When he was back however, he was so angry he decided he the veela should be sent off of the court. Bulgaria's team along with its mascots were not pleased which resulted in two penalty shots for Ireland, a quite a few fire balls being thrown at the referee.

"They can throw fire balls?" Elyan asked his father incredulously.

"Yep, they're quite dangerous to upset" Tom answered his son who just looked impressed.

The beaters continued to go after other players instead of just the bludgers. Other players started catching on, playing just as dirty, and it was a lucky if five minutes passed without another foul.

As the players continued to fight against each other, the mascots began to feel the same tension in the air. As Ireland scored another point and the leprechauns made a rude gesture at the veela, the two teams began to fight. The announcer described to the people at home the transformation form beautiful women to bird like creatures with leather wings and fire balls that the veela undertook.

About the same time, Krum was hit in the face by a bludger he was too slow to dodge, possibly breaking his nose. The referee was too busy trying to put out his robes from a stray fire ball to see resulting in him not calling a time out.

Barely two seconds later Lynch caught sight of the snitch and went into a steep dive, Krum following close behind. The snitch lead the two seekers straight down, causing the Irish seeker to once again crash into the ground, leaving Krum to catch the snitch.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted over the radio "BULGARIA CATCHCES THE SNITCH, AND IRELAND WINS!"

"That's right listeners" said the reporter "Ireland wins 170 to Bulgaria 160. Krum caught the snitch, but lost them the game!"

Arthur groaned and let his head fall back onto the wall "he couldn't have waited a few more goals?"

"How much do you owe her?" Gwen asked giggling, catching on as soon as he groaned.

"A galleon" he answered in defeat.

"Dude, why would you bet against her, you know she can see what happens?" Elyan laughed as Arthur glared at him.

"She's wrong sometimes" Arthur defended himself.

"Trusted Krum too much, didn't you?" Gwaine asked, finally taking his eyes away from the radio.

"Trusted his big head too much" amended Merlin causing them all to laugh.

"At least I had the guts to bet her, you were too scared to" Arthur shot back.

"I was smart enough not to" Merlin corrected him. Arthur rolled his eyes in response.

Tom stood up from his place on the couch and stretched his arms "You kids can stay the night, it's pretty late after all. I'll send you back to Gaius in the morning. Gwen, Elyan, get them whatever they need, I'm heading to bed"

"Okay" brother and sister responded simultaneously. Tom nodded at them before disappearing down the hallway branching off the side of the living room.

"So why did Krum catch the snitch if he knew they wouldn't win?" Merlin asked, looking around at his friends who all seemed to know more about Quidditch than him.

"They were pretty far behind" Elyan explained "he probably thought they weren't going to catch up, and from the sounds of it, they were going to run each other into the ground before too much longer. It was a good choice, everyone'll be talking about this one for a while"

Merlin nodded his head.

"Elyan," Gwen said, standing up from her spot against the wall "come help me with the blankets and things, we can just crash in here tonight"

"Sure" he answered standing up to help his sister.

::::::::::::::::::::

**Boring chapter, I know, but it was slightly necessary. Anyway, hope you guys are liking this as much as the other books, please keep reviewing, my goal is to get more reviews than my other books—though at this rate it's not going to happen….**


	4. Chapter 4

Merlin was woken up suddenly by a bright flash of green light and the sound of gwen screaming. Another flash of green light had Merlin scrambling to his feet trying t find what had made the noise. Two people were standing in front of the fireplace which was dying back down to slowly burning embers clothing the two people standing in fornt of it in shadows.

"Who are you?" he heard Arthur ask, and he knew the boy was holding his wand out in front of him, ready to attack the intruders.

"Arthur?" a familiar voice asked "What are you doing here?"

"Leon?" Arthur asked back. In his mind he could see Arthur lowering his wand but keeping it in his hand, Gwaine probably doing the same.

"Yeah," Leon answered from the dark "sorry we scared you guys"

"Who's with you?" Arthur asked curiously, still slightly on guard.

"Oh, it's my mom" Leon answered sheepishly.

"Is Tom around?" asked the woman Leon had said was his mother.

"Right here," Tom answered from behind the five teens. With a click, the lights turned on to reveal Leon standing next to a woman with the same colored hair. It also revealed the five teens standing in a mess of blankets and pillows from where they had been camping out in the living room floor.

Gwaine and Arthur, as Merlin had thought, along with Elyan all held their wands at their sides, their eyes alert but relaxed. Elyan and Arthur were standing next to each other, so close that they must have been fighting to stand in front of Gwen who looked mortified at being shielded by them both.

Leon was standing with his hands the pockets of his jeans, smiling at his friends who stood there looking like they had been ready for an attack.

Leon's mother stood to his side wearing an elegant pant suit with her auburn hair hanging loose down her back, her own wand at the ready.

"Annis?" Tom asked.

"Tom, I need yu to watch Leon for me. There's sme trouble at the World Cup and they're asking for help form the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Of course they need me there to authorize it as head of the department."

"No problem," he answered "you can see we're already having a bit of a sleep over anyways" she nodded her thanks and apparated out of sight.

Leon looked at his friends who still had their wands in their hands with a smirk "so, Ireland won"

Arthur groaned loudly and flopping down on the couch behind him "Don't remind me!"

Tom laughed at Arthur's reaction before walking toward the kitchen "As long as we're all up, we might as well have something to drink"

The kids followed him to the kitchen and sat around the small table, Tom conjuring up some more chairs so everyone could sit. He passed around bottles of butterbeer before taking his own seat and everyone turned to look at Leon.

"Why don't you fill us in on the emergency your mom was talking about" the older man prompted.

Leon nodded his head before swallowing a sip of his drink.

"We had just went to bed after hearing about Ireland winning the Cup. It might have been fifteen minutes before I heard someone apparate into the house and starting shouting for my mom. I ran into the living room to see an Auror talking to my mom—I'm not sure who it was, but I've seen them around before.

"Anyway, they came in saying the campsite up at the World Cup was in chaos. She—the auror—thought it was probably a bunch of kids that had too much to drink, but mom looked pretty worked up about it…"

"There's always someone ready to ruin it for everyone else" Tom commented.

"Are they just being really loud, or should I be worried about my sister?" Arthur asked looking between Tom and Leon.

Leon looked over at Arthur sadly "I wish I could tell you, but I have no idea"

"Morgana can take care of herself" Merlin said reassuringly to Arthur.

"Besides, the Malfoy's have probably already turned tail and ran for it "Gwaine added.

"You're probably right" Arthur said sighing heavily. Gwen, who was sitting next to him, grabbed his hand and gave him a small smile which he returned. Tom watched quietly as his daughter comforted the blonde boy sitting across the table from him.

"Annis is there by now, I'm sure they've rounded up half of the hooligans if not all of them by now" he said after a moment.

"She looked worried when she left" Leon said again, his own face scrunched up into a look of worry.

"Well, you know how your mother can be," Tom said reassuringly to the boy "she's always cautious about these things. Worried that it might be worse than it really is…"

Leon nodded his head "Yeah… you're right" They sat in silence after that, sipping at their drinks and waiting to hear from Annis.

:::::::::::

"Death Eaters!" Tom exclaimed "you can't be serious Annis"

She had apparated in a moment before and sat heavily at the table taking a fire-whiskey from Tom gratefully.

"they were dressed that way… and someone cast the Dark Mark"

Tom dropped his face into his hands "Did you catch them?"

"No, they got away" she shook her head "We had to stay focused on the muggles. Once the Dark Mark had been cast, they all apparated away. There was nothing to follow"

"Why would they leave then…. Did they kill anyone?" Tom asked worriedly.

Annis shook her head again, making her long hair which was now tied at the nape of her neck swing back and forth. "We've found no bodies so far, and we have officials making sure that everyone that came by portkey leaves safely. All of the players, the mascots and the officials have been accounted for, and the muggles are all safe. As far as we know, the Mark was only to make people panic"

"Well, it certainly did that" Tom said and Annis nodded her head in agreement.

"Why did you think someone had died?" asked Arthur, though Merlin was sure he already had a pretty good idea.

Annis took a deep breath before answering his question "He always left the Mark when he or his followers killed someone". Arthur nodded his head grimly at the answer.

"That doesn't explain why the…. Death Eaters?...would leave with they saw their master's mark in the sky" Gwaine said, looking at Annis.

"Actually, it does," she argued. "If any of the people in the masks were Death Eaters back then, that would mean they denounced their master to escape being sent to Azkaban. Do you really think the Dark Lord or any of his true followers would be happy to welcome traitors back into their midst, especially since most of them helped put away their comrades?"

"They would be killed" Tom answered for the group, looking around to see their horrified expressions.

"But they were just trying to escape capture…." Gwen started.

"And they denounced their cause to do it. If you were fighting for a cause you truly believed in, you would never go against it, even if it meant going to prison. You would be happy to show your faith, proud to stand by your morals. These people were more worried about themselves. The Dark Lord would hardly be pleased with them, and he certainly has no problem with killing" Annis said.

"If you had managed to capture someone there, how would you have known if they were actually a Death Eater?" Merlin asked the woman.

"They would have had the Mark on their left forearms" Annis answered.

"All of them?" Arthur asked the witch "what does the mark look like?"

Annis raised her eyebrow at the question, but answered even if she found it to be strange. "No, only the ones close enough to Him or his inner circle. It acts as a way for the Dark Lord to communicate with his more loyal followers. The Mark is a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth in the fashion of a tongue"

Merlin and Arthur glanced at each other "Is that the only mark they use?"

"Why do you ask?" Annis asked suspiciously.

Arthur answered her question hesitantly "We've recently encountered someone who openly admitted she was a supporter of You-Know-Who. She had a mark on her arm, but it was on the right, and it went up to her shoulder"

"Can you describe the mark?" Annis asked interested. Arthur looked over at Merlin who nodded his head before speaking.

"It was a snake coiled around her whole arm, its tail starting up at her shoulder and its head ending at her wrist. Its mouth was open, with its fangs ready to bite into her wrist… or at least that's how it looked.

"There was something wrong about it, I know it, but I couldn't tell what…"

Annis looked between the two boys carefully "Do you know the name of this person?"

When Merlin stayed quiet, Arthur answered the witch "Nimueh. The woman who escaped from Azkaban last year"

"You've met her?" Annis asked shocked.

"Met is kind of a loose term" Merlin said in a quiet voice "she tried to poison me"

"You're the boy from last year," Annis said in dawning realization " Leon, why didn't you tell me about your friend was the one attacked?"

"I didn't know until the middle of the term. By then he was already safe where he was" Leon shrugged his shoulders.

"I really don't want too many people to know about that," Merlin put in, drawing the woman's attention from her son.

"That is understandable;" she nodded her head "You're right, she is a supporter of You-Know-Who. We were never able to find out why some memebers—and there were very few who did—ahd different marks. When asked, the others would only say their master had need for an extra connection with those people.

"For a time, we thought that meant they were higher up on the chain of command, but it turns out only Nimueh was part of His council. The others were all lower on the food chain."

Gwaine was now also sharing the looks between Arthur and Merlin.

"If the three of you have some kind of information about Nimueh, I suggest you tell me"

They all turned to look at the woman and shook their heads 'no' causing her to sigh. She reached up to rub her forehead when something scratched at the window. They all jumped at the sound and felt humiliated to find it was an owl.

"The _Daily Prophet_" Annis observed as Guinevere went to let the bird in, paying it a single knut for the paper, "Is it already that time?"

"I'm afraid so," Tom answered "and I assume Gaius'll be showing—_pop —_up any second now"

"Gaius" Gwaine, Arthur, and Merlin said casually as the man looked around the room as though expecting to find a Death Eater"

"Annis, what are you doing here?" the physician asked, lowering his wand.

"The same as you," she commented "picking up my kid"

Gaius grunted in response before waving his wand and conjuring up an extra chair which he pulled up to the table "I assume you were called in last night"

Annis nodded her head "It looks like mostly drunk copycats at the moment"

Gaius nodded his head "That's all it takes to get us worked up"

"So many people still remember" Annis sighed again "You shouldn't let it get to you so much. Panic can only hurt us"

"Perhaps, but I doubt anyone is listening to logic at the moment.

**Sorry, another slow chapter, but it too was necessary. The next chapter still will not be too exciting, but it will get there soon enough. Thanks for reading, and please keep reviewing. **


	5. Chapter 5

Annis left soon after that, stating that she should go into work to help deal with the mess they were in. One look in the _Daily Prophet_ to see who had written the article about the World Cup spectacle had her running toward the fireplace.

"That damn Rita Skeeter," she mumbled "It's like her personal goal in life is to make everyone else's a living hell"

She loked over at Tom before throwing a handful of floo powder into the nonexistent fire "Tom, could you watch Leon for a little longer?"

"Not a problem," he answered easily "I was going to take the kids up to Diagon Alley to get their materials for school today"

"Oh, that's perfect" she said in a rush "Leon has plenty of money in his vault, and he has his list with him"

She threw the floo powder into the fire and stepped in calling out "Ministry of Magic"

Gaius decided he should take his own charges to get their supplies as well and Tom said that he would enjoy the company.

In comparison to the previous years, the students did not have to purchase as many materials. _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4_, new bottles of ink, spare quills, new ingredients for their potions class and … dress robes.

"Why do we need dress robes?" Elyan asked his dad.

Tom shrugged his shoulders and looked over to Gaius who repeated the gesture with an amused expression.

"My mom said that there's going to be some kind of special event at Hogwarts this year, but she said it was a secret" he said looking up at Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions.

Arthur sighed before pushing his the door open and walking inside saying "Might as well get this over with" Gwen following behind, giggling softly.

::::::::::::::::::

"Wake up you three" Gaius called up the stairs "The train leaves in three hours"

Merlin groaned, but got yawning loudly and getting dressed. Looking out the window, he found a gray sky pouring rain waiting to see him off for a new term at Hogwarts.

Ever since Leon had told them something exciting was going to be taking place at the school this year, Merlin had been eager to board the train. Now that the day was here however, he wished that he could have a few more hours to sleep.

"Arthur!" Gaius called up the stairs "your dress robes are hanging off of the sofa. Do. Not. Forget. Them!"

"I'm coming Gaius" Arthur called back tiredly, his voice muffled as though he had pulled his pillow on top of his head.

"Gwaine, I suggest you actually pack something to wear seeing as all of your clothes are strewn about my house!"

"There's plenty of time to pack" Gwaine called back in his normal, chipper voice.

Merlin chuckled to himself as he made his way down the stairs.

:::::::::::::::::::

Miraculously, they made it to the train station with time to spare, despite Gwaine taking his time to pack his bags.

"Hey Gaius," Gwaine said as he and the old man walked through the gate to the platform "could you send anything I might have left at your house by owl?"

Gaius rolled his eyes "I'm not sure how you manage to keep that head of yours on your head"

"Is that a yes?" Gwaine asked with a cheeky grin.

Gaius ignored him and turned to look at Merlin and Arthur "Next summer I'm going to send the two of you to his house"

"You'd be bored without us" Merlin said back smiling at the physician.

"Bored is not a bad thing" Gaius responded making the three boys laugh. "You should find a seat before they're all taken. Promise to write… even you Gwaine, though try not to write as much as you talk…"

Gwaine gave the man another cheeky grin "I knew I rubbed off on you"

Gaius rolled his eyes at the boy but pulled him into a hug anyway. Next he pulled Arthur into a hug, which the boy returned. Then the old man turned to Merlin and pulled him into a hug as well.

"Be careful this year?" he asked.

"I'll try" Merlin responded.

"That's what I'm afraid of" Gaius replied making them break out into large smiles. "Go find a seat, I'll write you by the end of the week"

"Okay Gaius"

"And Merlin…" he stopped him before he could turn around "if you want me to post a letter to your mother, I will"

Merlin gave the man another smile "Thanks Gaius"

Arthur grabbed Merlin's arm and started pulling him towards the train "C'mon, maybe we can beat Gwen to the train this year"

"I doubt it" Gwaine laughed leading the way. They quickly found a place to stow their luggage about halfway down the train before walking further down to find Gwen already sitting with her brother in a compartment.

"Beat us again" Merlin commented as the three boys entered the compartment.

Gwen looked up at them confused "What?"

"You always end up getting on the train before we do" explained Arthur.

"That's because you get here late" Elyan replied from his seat across from his sister, a smile on his face.

"Most normal people like to sleep" Gwaine reminded him, sitting down heavily in the seat next to the boy.

"Some more than others" Elyan replied. Gwen chuckled at her brother's remark as Arthur took a seat next to her and Merlin next to him.

"Have you seen Morgana yet?" Arthur asked.

"No, I haven't" Gwen replied "I'm sure she'll find us"

"Who's finding who?" asked a young boy at the door of the compartment. Mordred stood there with dark, curly hair hanging around his face with deep blue eyes and pale skin, a smile on his face.

"Mordred!" Arthur greeted him happily and the boy entered the compartment. He took a seat next to Gwaine who clapped him on the shoulder.

"So Mordred," Elyan said from his seat at the window "you going to try your hand at a spot on the Quidditch team this year?"

"Yeah, I've been practicing all summer. I can't wait until the season starts. I'm really hoping I'll be good enough to get on" he said.

"You've got a lot of competition standing in your way" Arthur commented "of course there is also Wood's spot on the Gryffidor team too"

"I'm not really sure I want to play for Gryffindor, though if it was my only option, I would go for it"

"Why don't you want to play for that team?" Merlin asked curious.

"Well, all of you are on the Knights team, and as fun as it would be to play against you, I'm pretty sure it would be better to be on your team" he answered.

Within ten minutes, the rest of the Knights had arrived and taken their seats in the next compartment, Elyan going with them. Morgana however, had still not shown up and Merlin could tell Arthur was starting to get worried. Just as the train started moving, he stood up as if to leave the compartment when the door slid open.

"Morgana, there you are" Arthur said, his voice clearly relived.

Morgana just looked at him a moment before looking back over her shoulder "I just wanted to tell you I made it so you wouldn't worry".

"Good timing, I was just about to come looking for you. You could come in and have a seat you know?" Arthur said with a smile which was starting to falter the longer she stood there.

"I'm going to sit with Draco and some other Slytherins" she said.

"Morgause included I guess" Arthur said, his voice now void of emotion though he still stood facing his sister.

She shook her head "She's at the front of the train, though I'm sure she'll come back at some point. I'm sorry guys, but I have to go"

She said it quickly and turned to leave the compartment, walking down the aisle of the train with her head bent down as though trying to avoid everyone's eyes. Merlin stood and looked out of his compartment to watch her leave, noticing Leon doing the same from his own.

"What was that about?" he asked and Merlin could only shrug.

::::::::::::::::::

They were nearly halfway into the train ride and the clouds had become so dark and the mist on the windows so thick that the lamps had already been lit. For the second time that day, the door to their compartment was thrown open, interrupting Gwaine as he told them about meeting a siren on the Mediterranean.

Morgause stood in the doorway, her blonde hair hanging down her back in their usual loose ringlets along with their usual sneer. The thing that caught Merlin's attention however, was a silver badge pinned to her robes.

"You're a prefect!" Merlin said loudly, drawing everyone's attention to the girl's badge.

"Yes, she said "I am. And as such I thought I should check that everyone was changed into their roves, which you lot have yet to do"

"Oh really?" Gwaine said "I hadn't noticed"

"Morgause frowned at the boy, "Be careful Belby. As a prefect I can take points form your house"

"We aren't even at Hogwarts yet" the boy rolled his eyes.

"I have a good memory" warned Morgause.

"Alright, we got it we'll change right away, Madam Prefect" Merlin said sarcastically.

"Fine, you caught me," she said with false sweetness "there was another reason I came to talk with you".

"Oh, and what would that be?" Arthur asked testily.

"This," she said holding her hand out in front of her and letting her eyes flash gold. As one, the people in the compartment were pulled out of their seats and it the floor hitting their heads on the people's sitting across from them.

Merlin , who had not been sitting across from anyone was the first to recover, standing to face Morgause who had a satisfied smirk on her face.

"What was that?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"That?" she asked with a smile "though you were the only person with a bit of extra power behind their wand, didn't you?"

"I've never…" he trailed off thinking of his second year. Every time the basilisk had gotten close, he had gotten sick… and so had Morgause.

"Getting it now?" she asked.

"Why are you showing us that you learned to control it?" Merlin asked.

"Because I didn't want you thinking you would be picked because of your little talent"

"Picked for what?" Arthur asked standing behind his brother.

A smile crept its way across her face "You don't know?"

"Know what?" Merlin asked angrily.

"Does this have to do with the dress robes?" Elyan asked from behind Morgause, the rest of the Knights pouring into the aisle after hearing the commotion from the other compartment. Down the train, people stuck their heads out to see what was going on.

"Not my place to tell" she said jovially, unconcerned with the others behind her. She turned back to Merlin "hope you're ready for a little competition"

She turned on her heels and pushed past the Knights to walk back to her won compartment, leaving the Knights to think about her news for the rest of their trip to the school.

**Morgause has gotten a bit stronger since the last book, and she's ready to rub it in Merlin's face. I hope you guys enjoyed.**


	6. Chapter 6

Dripping wet from the rain as well as Peeves surprise water balloon attack, Merlin and his friends made their way into the Great Hall. The Knights split up, each going to their own tables, Gwaine, Arthur, Merlin and Mordred walking over to Gryffindor's.

As usual for the start-of-term feast, the Great Hall was decorated with shinning golden plates and goblets with hundreds of candles floating in the air. Students were taking their places at their tables talking with friends they had not seen over the summer.

Gwaine led the four friends to a spot across from the Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan who were already whispering conspiratorially. Gwaine joined in their discussion excitedly while Merlin, Arthur and Mordred talked to Nearly-Headless Nick.

"Good evening" he said happily as he floated through the center of the table "ready for the start of term?"

"Ready for this feast" Arthur replied with a kind smile.

Nick laughed at his joke "Hogwarts has always had good feasts"

"Hey, Nick" Merlin called to the ghost before he could float further down the table "do you know anything about what's going on this year"

An excited gleam could be seen in the ghost's eyes "I wish I could be alive to see it" he said dreamily "but alas, I cannot tell you, but I'm sure if you're patient, you will find out soon enough.

With that he continued down the table, welcoming the Gryffindor students back for another year.

Merlin sighed dramatically, slumping in his seat "I was hoping he'd at least give us a hint"

"No point," Arthur replied "Dumbledore's probably planning to tell us either before or after the feast"

Merlin nodded and looked up at the staff table where Dumbledore was sitting in the center, his hands folded together and his eyes looking over his half-moon spectacles a the ceiling. In a mirror of the weather outside, dark purple clouds billowed about the ceiling, flashing lightning in synch with the booming of thunder from the other side of the walls.

The seat to Dumbledore's right, where Professor McGonagall usually sat, was empty. Merlin assumed she was either greeting the new first years, which seemed unlikely since Hagrid's seat was also empty, or she was still keeping Peeves from throwing more water balloons at the students.

One more seat besides the two Professor's was empty as well "hey, do you know who our new Defense Against the Dark Art teacher is?"

"Alastor, Mad Eye, Moody" Mordred replied and at the looks he received from the two boys he added "well that's the rumor going around anyways"

Just then, the doors of the Great Hall swung open, making everyone in the room fall silent as Professor McGonagall led a soaking wet group of first years down the middle of the center tables. As Merlin watched the kids being led down the aisle, he felt bad for them. Having ridden in a boat through the rain, their clothes were sticking to their bodies, their hair plastered to their faces making them look twice as small as they were.

Most of them were shaking, and all of them had horrified expressions on their face, except for one. The tiniest boy of the whole lot stood engulfed in a large, moleskin coat that obviously belonged to Hagrid, and his small head just cleared the collar showing a bright smile on his face.

McGonagall motioned for them to stop and pulled out an old stool and a musty brown, pointed cap which she sat on the stool, which sang its, as usual, a start of term song which changed every year.

When the applause died down, Professor McGonagall unrolled a scroll of parchment and began the sorting ceremony.

"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," she said loudly. "When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table.

"Ackerley, Stewart!"

A young boy walked up, his legs shaking so hard it was a surprise he actually made it to the stool. Slowly, he lifted the Sorting Hat, placed it on his head and sat down on the stool.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat screamed, and the Ravenclaw table burst into applause at having the first student sorted for that year. The next boy was sorted into Slytherin, followed by a girl sorted into Hufflepuff, a boy in Hufflepuff and then the small boy wearing Hagrid's coat was called.

"Creevey, Dennis!"

The boy jumped forward excitedly, pushing his way through his peers, tripping over the large coat. The boy had barely touched the stool when the pointed cap split open and shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"

The boy ran over to the Gryffindor table going straight for a third year whose name was Colin Creevey. Merlin smiled as the young boy started telling his brother something excitedly. The Sorting continued with McGonagall calling name after name and the hat sorting them each into different houses until the last person was called and sorted into Hufflepuff.

As the first year took his seat with his house, McGonagall grabbed the hat and stool as Professor Dumbledore stood from his seat at the head of the staff table. He opened his arm to the crowd before with a bright smile.

"I have only two words to say to you," he said "_tuck in_."

The students all cheered as the plates in front of them began filling with food and pitchers with drink. In only a matter of seconds, Merlin had his own plate full of food which he was digging into without hesitation. As usual, the food was delicious, the desert even better.

When finally everyone had eaten their full and the plates began to disappear, Dumbledore stood back up, causing the entire Hall to fall quiet.

"So!" he said, smiling around at them all. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while give out a few notices.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

'It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Several students—most of which were good friends of Merlin's—hopped to their feet in outrage, mouths agape in horror or anger, Merlin could not tell. Dumbledore nodded in the few people's direction, making them realize that they had stood up, and in reply they quickly regained their seating, though their mouths still hung open in disappointment.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy—but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"

Dumbledore was interrupted as a great rumble of thunder accompanying the sound of the doors to the Great Hall being thrown open.

A man stood in the doorway leaning on a large staff, a dark traveling cloak pulled around his shoulders, the hood covering his head. Everyone in the room turned to look at the man as he pulled hte hood off, revealing long, stringy dark gray hair as he started walking to the staff table.

The man made his way to Dumbledore's side, showing off his terribly scarred face that looked as though pieces had been gouged out and poorly healed. One of his eyes was missing, replaced by a glass eye painted a startling blue that moved around apparently of its own accord, ignoring the way his regular eye moved.

Dumbledore grasped the man's hand and the tow whispered something before the man took his seat on the other side of Dumbledore from McGonagall.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly. "Professor Moody."

"I told you" Mordred whispered, his voice loud among the deafening silence of the student body, though Merlin knew his voice was still quite enough to only be heard by him and possibly Gwaine.

The man seemed uncaring about the fact that no one other than Dumbledore and Hagrid had applauded his new position as a professor, more interested in the food in front of him. He took a few bites of something before pulling out a hip flask and taking a deep drink, ignoring the goblet in front of him.

Dumbledore went on with his speech, also ignoring the lack of response to Moody's appearance.

"As I was saying, we are to have the honor ho hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place this year."

"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly. Everyone in the Great hall turned to look at the Weasley twin and burst into laughter, the tension from Moody's arrival having been broken.

"I am _not_ joking, Mr. Weasley," he said "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…"

Beside him, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat pointedly.

"Er—but maybe this is not the time…no…" said Dumbledore, "where was I'? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament…well some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who _do_ know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly completion between the tree largest European schools of wizardry" Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young withes and wizards of different nationalities—until, that is , the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"_Death toll?_" Merlin whispered getting a reproving glance from both Arthur and Gwiane, and Merlin could not help but think of Morgause saying he would not be the only one who could be picked just because of his magic. _Did she really think he would enter such a contest?_

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own Departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the times is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short listed contenders in October, and the section of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money"

A general mummer of people talking at the same time started across the Hall as everyone became excited about the news.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said "the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, has agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age—that is to say, seventeen years or older_ will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This," he said, raising his voice over the angry mummer of students protesting "is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." His eye swept over the Gryffindor table "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and staying with us for the greater part of this year. I know you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-heated support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to all of you to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop, chop!"

The Great Hall filled with the clutter of noise as students began getting up to make their way to their House's. Arthur and Gwaine both hopped to their feet quickly and waited impatiently on Merlin and Mordred to get to theirs.

"You are not entering the tournament, Merlin" Arthur said suddenly as the boys started following their housemates out of the Great Hall.

"What?" he asked, looking at his brother.

"You are not about to do something dangerous again this year" he clarified.

"It's not like I'm arguing" Merlin said back angrily, "even if I were seventeen, I still wouldn't enter"

"Good," Gwaine said seriously, "because with your luck, you'd be picked for sure"


	7. Chapter 7

Gwaine and Arthur sat across the table from Merlin, yawning into their breakfast. Mordred sat next to him, reading the second year's class schedule.

"What've we got this year, Merlin?" Gwaine asked groggily.

"Well, for starters, we have Herbology…with Hufflepuff again. Then Care of Magical Creatures with…. Slytherin—"

"Good, we can talk to Morgana" Arthur mumbled past a piece of toast.

"If not there, then in double Divination after" Merlin replied setting the schedule down so he could focus on his own breakfast.

::::::::::::::::::

Gwen, Lance and Leon stood next to them when they entered Greenhouse three for Herbology. Professor Sprout seemed to be in a good mood even giving Arthur and Merlin a pat on the shoulder in greeting.

When class started, the wiry haired which showed them all a large plant that looked more like a bunch of giant, black slugs trying to squirm their way out of the soil. Each plant had a number of large swellings along its body, looking as though they were full of some kind of liquid.

"Bubotubers" Professor Sprout explained "They need squeezing. You will collect the pus—"

"The _what?_" said Seamus Finnigan, sounding revolted.

"Pus, Finnigan, pus," Professor Sprout repeated while Gwen tried to stifle her giggles behind her hand, "and it's extremely valuable, so don't waste it. You will collect pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves' it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, bubotuber pus."

The class set to work, popping the large pustules and letting them drain into the glass bottles. Within ten minutes of the class, the whole greenhouse started smelling strongly of petrol. Most of the students, other than Gwen and Gwaine for some unknown reason, had disgusted but slightly intrigued looks on their faces. By the end of the class, Professor Sprout had corked several pints of the greenish, yellow liquid.

"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy," she said. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measure sot rid themselves of pimples."

"Like poor Eloise Midgen," whispered Hannah Abbott, and Hufflepuff, "she tried to curse hers off." 

"Silly girl," Professor Sprout said "but Madam Pomfrey fixed her nose back on in the end."

Just then, a loud bell rang across the school grounds signaling the end of the lesson. With a quick word, the two Houses separated, Gwen, Lance and Leon leaving with the other Hufflepuffs and Gwaine, Arthur and Merlin following their own House down to Hagrid's hut.

Hagrid was waiting for them outside of his hut, a big grin on his face under his beard, one enormous hand holding Fang, his boarhound, by his collar. Several wooden crates lay open at his feet, which Fang was trying desperately to investigate. As they grew nearer, they could hear a strange rattling and small pops coming from the crates.

"Mornin"!" the large man greeted his class, or rather half of it, "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this—Blast-Ended Skrewts!"

"Come again?" Ron said a few people in front of them.

Hagrid pointed down at the crates.

"Eurgh!" squealed Lavender Brown, jumping backward.

Merlin peered over the edge of one of the many crates sitting around to see a large pile of strange, writhing creatures. They were pale, slimy-looking things that resembled a shell-less lobster after it had been stomped on a few times. They had no visible heads and legs that stuck out from its body in random places. A smell like rotten fish was emanating from the crates and every few minutes, as the small creatures crawled over each other, small sparks would fly out of one end of the skrewt, propelling it forward by several inches.

"On'y jus' hatched," said Hagrid proudly, "so yeh'lll be able ter raise 'em yerselves! Thought we'd make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we _want_ to raise them?" came a drawling voice from behind them.

Merlin turned to find Draco, along with his usual posse and Morgana walking in front of the other Slytherins. Unlike Crabbe and Goyle, who were chortling at their leader's joke, Morgana was not even smiling, but she was also doing nothing to stop the others from laughing.

"I mean," Malfoy went on at Hagrid's confused look "what do they _do_? What is the _point_ of them?"

Hagrid thought about this for a moment before replying "Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things—I've never had 'em before, not sure what the'll go fer—I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake—just try 'em out with a bit of each."

"First pus and now this," complained Seamus Finnigan from behind them making Gwaine laugh. With his usual air of calm, the boy was the first to go over and lift out a handful of frog liver to offer to one of the crates of skrewts.

Arthur and Merlin both shared a look before each taking a handful of ant eggs and grass snake before walking over to see which the skrewts liked more.

"There yeh go boys, try 'em out, go on" he said proudly to the rest of the class which followed behind reluctantly.

Arthur tried to get Morgana to come over to their crate, but she deliberately ignored him, going instead to a crate with Malfoy as far away from them as she could get.

"We haven't seen her in like two weeks, and now she's avoiding us" Arthur said, holding his hand just under the brim of the crate, but not low enough that the skrewts, if they actually had mouths, could reach the food.

"Probably embarrassed by you," Gwaine replied, sticking his hand in each skrewts personal bubble, not sure where the mouth was, pulling it away just before the thing could explode "I know I am, but I put up with it for Merlin's sake"

"Maybe she's angry you haven't paid up for the bet yet" Merlin said, ignoring Gwaine's comment, though he wanted to laugh. His own hand was dripping the ant eggs down the side of the crate, thinking if the things wanted to eat, they could eat off of the bottom of the crate rather than his hand.

"_Ouch!_" yelled Dean Thomas "It got me!"

Hagrid hurried over to the boy, looking anxious.

"It's end exploded!" he said angrily, showing the large man a burn on his hand.

"Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off" Hagrid said, nodding his head.

"Eurgh!" repeated Lavender Brown. "Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?"

"Ah, some of 'em have got stings," Hagrid said enthusiastically. "I reckon they're the males…The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies…I think they might be ter suck blood."

Gwaine looked more closely down into the crate as though trying to see the differences between the two genders.

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive," said Malfoy sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting, and bite all at once?"

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful," Hermione snapped at him. "Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?"

Malfoy scowled in her direction, but said nothing, instead turning back to his own crate.

"'Bout time someone told him off" Gwaine smirked at the boy's face which was starting to turn slightly red.

"Wish it would have been Morgana" Arthur said worriedly.

"She'll come round, Arthur" Merlin said, not really believing his own words. "We have Divination next, and there are no other Slytherins in that class"

"I guess you're right" he said, but he did not sound reassured.

:::::::::::::::::::

After lunch, the Knights all walked up to the North Tower, except for Morgana who had slipped out to the Great Hall before anyone had noticed. Gwaine was telling everyone about Hagrid's Blast-Ended Skrewts as they walked up the spiraling steps to the small tower room.

The same as the previous year, the room was dimly lit, its windows blocked with dark curtains, dim light coming from the few lamps in the room draped with scarves and shawls. Arthur, Gwen, Lance and Merlin all took a seat at one of the circular tables, the other three taking a seat at the one right behind them.

Arthur looked around the room "I don't see Morgana"

"Good day," Professor Trelawney said softly, coming out from one of the dark corners. No one jumped, used to this kind of behavior from the woman, though a few of the girls gasped admiringly.

Just then, another person rushed into the room through the trap door, her head bent down and clutching her books to her chest as she made her way to sit next to Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil.

"Why is she sitting with those two?" hissed Arthur angrily looking over at his sister but quieted at a reproving look from Professor Trelawney. She turned to look at Harry and the four at the table all rolled their eyes.

"You are preoccupied, my dear," she said. "My inner eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas…most difficult...I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass… and perhaps sooner than you think…."

Merlin watched the Professor as she moved over to take a seat in her winged armchair in front of the fire, still looking off into space as though seeing something her students could not. Morgana, who had chosen Lavender and Pavarti over her normal group of friends was very close to the woman, and she did not looked as pleased as the other two girls about this.

"My dears, it is time for us to consider the stars," she said. "The movements of the planets and the mysterious portents they reveal only to those who understand the steps of the celestial dance. Human destiny may be deciphered by the planetary rays, which intermingle…"

Merlin let his gaze drift over to his sister who was sitting erect in her seat, her full attention on Professor Trelawney, which meant she knew he was looking. Her dark hair was up in a messy bun, hanging down to grasp at her neck in a way he knew she hated. Dark circles stood out under her eyes, even in the dim lighting, and her skin looked nearly translucent it was so pale.

It looked as though she had been having visions every night since the beginning of the summer, but she had not said anything to him about that. Ever since she was small, she would come to him when she had a vision, and now, when it was so obvious that she had had one, she was avoiding their group.

Lance's chuckle brought him back to the moment, making him turn to look at Trelawney's annoyed expression which was turned on Harry, who also had a distant look in his eye.

"I was saying, my dear, that you were clearly born under the baleful influence of Saturn," she said in a voice that clearly stated she was repeating herself.

"Born under—what, sorry?" Harry said and Merlin could see his face heating under everyone's scrutiny and he could not help but chuckle along with Lance.

"Saturn, dear, the planet Saturn!" the Professor said smartly. "I was saying that Saturn was surely in a position of power in the heavens at the moment of your birth…Your dark hair… your mean stature… tragic losses so young in life…I think I am right in saying, my dear, that you were born in midwinter?"

"No," Harry said blatantly "I was born in July."

Merlin heard Gwaine from behind him, choking on his laughter and Percy roughly punching his arm, trying to muffle his own laughter. Gwen had her head hidden in Arthur's neck, her body shaking while Lance had his head in his hands. Merlin himself was biting his tongue and he could see Arthur had his eyes shut with his head tilted back, his cheeks red with the desire not to laugh. From across the room, Morgana was getting reproachful looks from her new friends as tears leaked down her face from keeping in her own mirth.

Disgruntled, and clearly not impressed by the Knight's tables attempts to reign in their laughter, she set them to work on making celestial charts that correlated with the moment of their birth. It was dry work that had them constantly referencing timetables and calculating angles.

At the end of class, Professor Trelawney seemed in a slightly better mood, but that did not stop her assigning them homework "A detailed analysis of the way the planetary movements in the coming month will affect you, with reference to your personal chart. I want it ready to hand in next Monday, and no excuses!"

"Great way to start the year" Gwen commented, walking next to Arthur as they made their way to Great Hall for dinner. They had only made it to the entrance hall when they stopped again.

"This doesn't look good" Gwaine commented as Malfoy and his usual body guards, as well as Morgana made their way through the crowd of hungry students to stand in front Ron, holding a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in his hands.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" he said importantly "Listen to this!"

Malfoy opened the paper and began reading an article about Arnold Weasley ("Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?") going to the aid of Mad Eye who had raised a false alarm about being attacked, calling the attention of the muggle police, who all had to have their minds modified.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" Malfoy said, flipping the paper over so Ron could see the picture. "A picture of your parents outside their house—if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

"I think he's about to snap" Percy commented as they watched the way Ron was shaking in fury.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon Ron…."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter?" Malfoy sneered. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"He's really asking for it" Elyan said with a small smirk on his face at the thought of the boy getting told off—or better yet, cursed.

"You know _your_ mother Malfoy?" Harry said as he and Hermione took hold of the back of Ron's robes "that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

"He deserved that one" Lance said appreciatively. Merlin looked at Arthur's face to see he was staring intently at his sister, waiting for her to step up and stop Malfoy from being such a jerk.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter." Malfoy said angrily.

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," the dark haired boy replied, turning to walk away.

BANG!

All seven Knights protested as Malfoy sent a spell at Harry's back, which just barely missed its target. Before any of them could pull their wands to help however, someone else had stepped into the fight.

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!"

Moody was limping down the staircase, his wand pointed out in front of him directly at a pure white ferret that sat exactly where Malfoy had been standing a moment before. The man turned to Harry when he reached the ground level, everyone else in the hall was deathly silent "Did he get you?"

"No," Harry replied after a beat "missed"

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted, making the whole stundent body jump as his voice rang out.

"Leave—what?" Harry asked.

"Not you—him!" Moody said, turning to face a startled Crabbe who was bent over to pick up the ferret.

He started limping over to the two hulking boys who stood over the ferret, who gave a terrified squeak and tried to run off towards the dungeons.

"I don't think so!" roared Moody, pointing his wand at the small creature, making it float inot the air, and then let it drop to the ground and bounce back up.

"What do you think you are doing!?" came a very calm, but angry voice from behind the professor. The man did not move, but Merlin was sure he could see her with that magic eye of his, the same way he saw Crabbe going to pick up Malfoy.

"I'm not so sure you should be talking to your Professor that way" Moody replied, keeping the ferret hovering in the middle of the room.

"I'm not sure you should be transfiguring my brother into a ferret and causing him physical harm by bouncing him off of the floor" Morgause replied in that deceptively calm voice as she walked around the man to stand between him and the ferret "no matter what he did"

"Are you the one who decides how to punish students here?" he asked, his voice also very calm, both eyes, real and magical, trained on the girl.

"Are you?" she asked. Not a sound could be heard through the whole hall as everyone was sure Moody was about to do something worse to the sixth year than turn her into a ferret. Instead, he continued to stare at her until she turned her back on him and pointed her own wand at her brother.

Merlin was sure that she had used old magic, though he could hardly prove it, when she switched Malfoy back into his normal form, dropping him in a heap on the ground, though she hid it very well.

"Pick your battles, you idiot" she said before walking out of the hall, everyone's eyes her, making them all jump again as Professor McGonagall walked into the hall looking around as though still expecting there to be a ferret on the floor to rescue, apparently someone had tipped her off.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

**That's right, Morgause stood up to Moody! And there is a reason he didn't do anything, so don't think that was too out of character. **

**By the way—Arthur does know that Nimueh offered to train Morgause and by extension Morgana, but he has not told Merlin, which is why he gets more worried than Merlin about Morgana avoiding him—just in case anyone was wondering. **


	8. Chapter 8

The whole school was in a clamor about that had happened between Moody and Morgause. Some people said Moody stopped because he knew McGonagall was nearby and did not want to be lectured about transfiguring a student. Some people said he was scared of Lucius, though others argued if that was it, he would not have transfigured Draco to begin with. A few people though he was frightened of Morgause, or at least impressed she stood up to him. Others assumed he thought she was simply not worth his time.

Merlin however, suspected he could tell she was calm for a reason and wanted to see what she would do. The Professor did not seem especially disturbed that she had so easily broken his spell on her brother, just mildly interested. The whole thing felt like a sort of test of Merlin, like they were trying to see how far the other would go.

Draco seemed effectively quieted, both from fear of Moody, and embarrassment for being saved and lectured by his sister.

Morgause, on the other hand, was acting as though nothing at all had happened. She showed Moody the same respect as he did the other teachers, and did not gloat about what happened. She just let it go , and that had even more people talking about her.

Two days passed in this way, normal, but not normal. It was strange, but Merlin did his best to ignore the situation.

Professor Snape seemed to be one of the few other people that were acting as though nothing happened—if he even knew anything happened at all. The potion's master seemed decidedly against doing anything has involved acknowledging the new Defense teacher. It was common knowledge through the school Snape wanted the Defense position, but had yet to get it within four consecutive years. This year was worse than the others, making him harsher, even giving Neville a detention for burning through the bottom of another cauldron.

When Thursday came around, all the Gryffindor fourth years were so excited to have a class with Moody, most of them left lunch early to stand outside of his classroom. The only one who was almost late was Hermione who had been spending a lot of her time in the library to no shock of many of them.

They entered the classroom with a quiet anticipation—even Gwaine—and took out their _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection_ books. The man came in a moment later, the clunking of his clawed, prosthetic foot preceding him.

"You can put those away," he growled out as he made his way to his desk "those books. You won't need them." Moody then took out a register and called roll, his normal eye reading along the list, his magic eye looking at each student as they answered.

"Right then," he said "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark creatures—you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, hinkypunks, grindylows, Kappas, and werewolves, is that right?"

A few people answered his question, most of them mumbling unintelligibly.

"But you're behind—very behind—on dealing with curses," said Moody. "So I'm here to bring you up t scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark—"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron interrupted.

Moody's magical eye focused in on Ron while he kept his normal eye looking about his class, waiting until the kid began to squirm for smiling.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" he asked. "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago…. Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore…ne year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

He gave a booming laugh, clapping his horribly scarred hands together.

"So—straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you counter curses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show yu what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Merlin turned in his seat to see Lavender blushing a furious red and pushing away a completed horoscope she had been showing to Pavarti under the table. Moody's eye could apparently see through solid wood.

"So…do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

A few hands rose in the air, though none belonged to Merlin, Arthur or Gwaine, even though they were very aware of one of the curses.

Moody pointed one of his scarred hands at Ron. The boy took a tentative breathe before speaking "Er, my dad told me about one….Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

Merlin closed his eyes, memories from his first year filling his mind, and he felt a wisp of cold air travelling down the length of his spine and when he opened his eyes, he could see Moody's magical eye trained on him, making him look down at the desk in front of him.

Moody got to his feet and opened his desk drawer, pulling out a glass jar. Three large black spiders were walking around the bottom of the jar. Gwaine next to him lifted one eyebrow as the man reached one of his large hand into the jar and scooped up one of the spiders and held it in his hand, so that they could all see it. When he had all of their attentions on the spider, he pointed his wand at it and said "_Imperio!"_

The spider leapt from Moody's hand on a thread of silk and began to swing backward and forward. It stretched out its legs, then did a back flip, braking the thread and landing on the desk, where it cartwheeled in circles. Moody waved his wand, and the spider lifted itself up onto its two back legs, and made it do a tap dance.

Everyone laughed, everyone except for Merlin and Moody. The man used his magical eye to once again look at Merlin, before he interrupted their laughter, his eye staying still on the boy's face.

"Think it's funny, do you?" he asked them. "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

Merlin felt Arthur and Gwaine tense on either side of him, both noticing that Moody's eye was on their friend. The other's laughter died, Moody regaining their silent attention.

"Total control," Moody said, making the spider roll itself into a ball and spin over and over across the desk "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats…"

Merlin caught Harry throwing a quick glance back in his direction, probably also remembering their first year.

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse," Moody said, talking about the days when Voldemort had been all-powerful. "Dome job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will.

"The Imperius curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONTSANT VIGILANCE!" he yelled making everyone in the room jump.

Moody caught the summersaulting spider in his hand and tossed it back into the jar.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand raised, to no one's surprise, but shockingly, so did Neville's. Neville usually tried to stay out of most teacher's ways other than Professor Sprout who taught his best subject, Herbology.

"Yes?" Moody said, pointing to Neville's trembling hand.

"There's one—the Cruciatus Curse," Neville replied, his voice quiet, almost distant.

"Your name's Longbottom?" Moody asked, both eye staring at the boy who nodded his head nervously. With a small grunt, he turned to scoop a second spider from the jar which he placed in the center of his desk, where it sat very still.

"The Cruciatus Curse," Moody said. "Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea," he said thoughtfully pointing his wand at the insect. "_Engorgio!" _

The spider swelled to twice its size, growing larger than an average tarantula, and Merlin noticed Ron pushing his chair back as far as it would go away from the spider.

Keeping the wand trained on the spider, Moody said another spell "_Crucio!" _

The spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking form side to side. No sound came from it, but it looked in horrible pain. Moody kept his wand focused, even as the spider began to spasm, writhing around the desk—

"Stop it!" Hermione's voice broke through the silence. Everyone looked at her shocked, but her attention was not on the spider, but on Neville, who looked white as a sheet, sweat pouring down his face.

The spider looked no better. The writhing had stopped, but the twitches continued, the poor thing to exhausted to move from its back or try to escape its torturer.

_"Reducio!_" Moody muttered, his wand still pointed at the hairy creature which shrank back to its original size. Again, he tossed the spider into the jar.

"Pain," he said softly, looking gravely at the students. "You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse…. That one was very popular once too.

"Right… anyone know any others?"

Merlin watched Hermione raise her hand slowly, almost unwillingly into the air.

"Yes?" Moody prompted.

"_Avada Kedavra_" she whispered.

"Ah," Moody smiled again. "Yes, the last and worst. "_Avada Kedavra_… the Killing Curse."

Once more he scooped out a spider, the third and last, which he also placed on the desk top.

He pointed his wand at the spider even as it tried to run "_Avada Kedavra!_"

A flash of green light filled the room and the spider rolled onto its back, dead. Several people cried out, and Ron even managed to flip his seat backwards.

Moody unceremoniously swept the dead spider off of his desk and into the floor, turning his back on it to face his class, his eyes calm as ever.

"Not nice," he said. "Not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only one know person has ever survived it, and he's sitting right in front of me."

Everyone looked at Harry, who was trying his hardest not to show how uncomfortable he was, and Merlin wondered what was going through his mind.

"_Avada Kedavra's _ a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it—you could all get your wands out now and pint them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it.

"Now, if there's no countercurse, why am I showing you? _Because_ _you've got to know. _You've got to appreciate what the worst is. You don't want to find yourself in a situation where you're facing it. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" he roared, making the whole class jump again.

"Now…those three curses—_Avada Kedavra, _Imperius, and Cruciatus—are known as the Unforgivable Curses. The use of any one of them on a fellow human being is enough to earn a life sentence in Azkaban. That's what you're up against. That's why I've got to teach you to t fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice _constant, never-ceasing vigilance._ Get out your quills…copy this down..."

The rest of the class was spent copying notes on the three Unforgivable Curses, and by the end of the class came along, Merlin was more than ready to get out of that room.

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"You alright mate?" Gwaine asked, coming up behind him where he sat in the common room. "You ran out of there pretty fast"

"Fine, I guess I just kind of remembered some things I would have preferred to forget"

"That makes sense" his friend said, taking a seat next to him on the red sofa. "You've been through a lot, and that was a bit harsh of him to just bring it back up like that"

"It's not like he knew" Merlin mumbled.

"I'm not so sure," Gwaine replied, making Merlin look at him questioningly. "You saw the way he looked at you when he mentioned the curse, he knew you'd seen it, or had been hurt by it. And the way he asked Neville his name, as though it were familiar. He knew the boy was sensitive about it"

"How do you know?" Merlin asked skeptically.

"I'm just good at reading people" Gwaine shrugged nonchalantly.

"Really?" Merlin asked. "Then why do you end up getting into so many fights?"

"Because I know the right buttons to push to make them start throwing punches" Gwaine laughed at Merlin's expression.

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**One more chapter! Anyway, as always, I hope you are enjoying the story, and I ask that you review. **


	9. Chapter 9

A few weeks later, Professor Moody announced he was going to be putting the Imperius Curse on each of them. He said he would be doing so to demonstrate its power and to see whether they could resist its effects.

When Merlin heard this, he had a large desire to run out of their room and the only thing that kept him there was Gwaine's steady hand on his shoulder.

'Cut—but you said it's illegal, Professor," said Hermione uncertainly, and Merlin was hoping that would be enough to change his mind. "you said—to use it against another human was—"

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like," he said, dashing Merlin's hopes. "If you'd rather learn the hard way—when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely—fine by me. You're excused. Off you go."

This time, Arthur also put his hand on Merlin's shoulder. No one left, Hermione muttering she had not meant it.

The students lined up and Moody began to motion them up in turn to put the curse on them. Merlin hid at the back of the line, watching each of his classmates do things under Moody's influence.

Dean Thomas hopped three times around the room, singing the national anthem. Lavender Brown imitated a squirrel. Neville performed a series of quiet astonishing gymnastics he would certainly not have been capable of in his normal state. Not one of them seemed to be able to fight off the curse, and each of them recovered only when Moody had removed it.

When it was Harry's turn, the boy hesitated before starting to jump to the top of a desk, but instead, he stopped himself, knocking his shins into the edge of the desk, but effectively puling himself out of the curse.

"Look at that, you lot… Potter fought! He fought it, and he damn near beat it! We'll try that again, Potter, and the rest of you, pay attention—watch his eyes, that's where you see it—very good indeed! They'll have trouble controlling _you!_"

Moody made Harry go a few more times until the boy was able to throw the curse off completely.

When he was done, Moody had a few more students—Ron and Hermione—come up before he got to Arthur.

_"Imperio!_" Moody said, pointing his wand at Arthur.

Arthur's body went rigid, his eyes going fuzzy. Merlin could see the boy's hand fidgeting, his arm raising up to his neck, and he grasped his hand around his sword. The boy's eyes came back into focus, a bright smile worming its way across his face, his laughter filling the room over his victory.

"Well Potter, "Moody said with an appraising look "you have someone else that you can be sure isn't under the influence of a dark wizard"

"It's because of that ridiculously, hard head of his "Gwaine commented loudly making most of the class laugh.

"It's that ridiculously hard head of his that might save his life one day" Moody retaliated, clapping a have hand on the boy's shoulder.

Moody's eye –the magic one –then turned on Merlin "now let's see if your brother is as stubborn"

With a nervous, hitch of breath, Merlin walked to the center of the room with everyone's eyes on him. Moody gave him a hard aster with his normal eye, his magic one looking around the room.

"_Imperio!_"

Nice again, Merlin felt his body fall under some other person's power. A firm grip on his mind that he knew could cause him to do horrible things.

It would be easy to just let this other mind think for him. Easy to just follow any order and not worry, a fete all the voice take care of him.

_Do a backflip_ the voice said in his mind.

A chill swept down his spine, that voice, he wanted to follow it, more than anything, but he knew he should not listen.

_Jump in the air and flip over backwards and land on your feet._ It would be easy, the voice whispered as though it were a completely logical thing to do.

It would be foolish, his own mind whispered back.

_Jump into the air and flip backwards_ the voice repeated.

This voice was more gentle, but he knew it was still seeking to sue him for its own purposes.

**No!** he shouted in his mind and he could feel the familiar rush of heat behind his eyes as an image of himself standing tin a mirror flickered to life hi his mind.

"Well," Moody commented "this class seems to full of hard heads. What about you, Belby?"

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"That was so embarrassing," Gwaine complained "and how did the two of you fight it off, exactly?

Merlin shrugged his shoulders "it was easier after the first time"

"The voice just wasn't that strong" Arthur shrugged his shoulders.

The fourth years were starting to notice an increase in the amount of work they were being loaded with. Professor McGonagall was not impressed when they began groaning at the amount of homework she kept assigning them.

"You are now entering a most important phase of your magical education!" she said. "Your Ordinary Wizarding Levels are drawing closer—"

"We don't take O.W.L.s till fifth year!" Dean Thomas said indignantly.

"Maybe not, Thomas, but believe me, you need all the preparation you can get! Miss Granger remains the only person in this class who has managed to turn a hedgehog into a satisfactory pincushion. I might remind you that _your_ pincushion, Thomas, still curls up in fright if anyone approaches it with a pin!"

History of Magic, Potions, Charms, and even Care of Magical Creatures had a growing amount of work, which involved coming down every other afternoon to check on the growing Skrewt's conditions.

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A week later, the school had more pleasant fill in the air as everyone's excitement bubbled to the top over the arrival of the other two schools. Kids and teachers alike looked preoccupied, even Snape was acting less harsh, which was helped by the fact that they were getting to leave class a half hour early to prepare to welcome the other schools.

Down in the entrance hall, the Heads of Houses were gathering their students into lines.

"Stop slouching Mr. Belby, and Mr. Yaxely, please join the rest of the second years if you don't mind" Professor McGonagall ordered as she walked up and down the line of Gryffindor students before ordering them to walk out to the front of the castle.

"Do you think these other students are going to be really snooty?" Gwaine asked, looking all over the field, not sure where to expect them from.

"Why would they be?" Arthur asked, looking at Gwaine with a quizzical look on his face.

""cause they're from some fancy foreign schools" Gwaine shrugged his shoulders like that should be obvious.

"You know, to them, we're the foreign school" Merlin said, looking over at Gwaine.

"Shut up Merlin" Gwaine grumbled, making Merlin laugh.

"How do you think they'll be arriving?" Arthur asked, looking around in the same way Gwaine had been.

Merlin shrugged his shoulders "Maybe they'll walk"

Arthur and Gwaine both gave him looks like he was an idiot.

"Aha!" Dumbledore's voice said from the back row where he stood with the other teachers "Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" they heard many students saying, looking around from the sky to the ground below their feet, Gwaine even turned to look back inside of the castle ("You never know").

"_There!" _someone a few rows back shouted and Merlin followed as everyone turned their heads to the forest.

A large boxed shaped thing was flying over the tree tops toward where they stood. As it grew closer, Merlin could see it was a carriage, the size of a house, painted powder blue and drawn by dozen winged-horses the size of small elephants.

The ground under their feet shook under the impact of the house and its bearers as they came to a landing which was not as graceful as the horses beautiful appearance would suggest. Closer up, he could see the horses hides were a bright gold, and their eyes were a fiery red.

Hogwarts seemed to take in a deep, excited breath, as the door to the blue carriage opened, and a boy in pale blue robes jumped down and extended a set of golden steps from under the door. He hurried back a few steps to a respectful distance, standing erectly as he waited.

A high heeled, black shoe the size of a child's sled emerged from the inside of the carriage, followed by a woman larger than any Merlin had ever known. A few people gasped in surprise as the woman stood to her full height outside of the carriage, taking in the castle and its residents. She had a lovely olive toned skin that held liquid black eyes and a large, hooked nose. Her hair was tied back into a flawless bun and she wore a black satin dress, accompanied by an opal necklace that shinned in the light from the castle.

Dumbledore led the students in a round of applause which had her face relaxing into a smile and she started walking forward to meet Dumbledore, extending a hand with a matching set of glittering jewels of the same color as her necklace. Dumbledore, took her hand and kissed it in greeting, barely needing to bend to reach it the woman was so tall.

"My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," said Madame Maxime in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you," he responded kindly.

"My pupils," Madame Maxime said, waving her hand back to her carriage.

Merlin followed her gesture to see two rows of girls and boys standing behind their Head Mistress, all wearing robes of fine, blue silk that was doing little to help them against the cold. They were all looking up at the castle with apprehensive looks on their faces.

"See?" Gwaine muttered making Merlin roll his eyes.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" the Head Mistress asked.

"He should be here any moment," Dumbledore replied. "Would you like to wait her and greet him or would you prefer to stop inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think," she said back. "But ze 'orses—"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them" said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other—er—charges."

"Slimy lobsters" Arthur shuddered slightly.

"My steeds require—er—forecful 'andling," said the large woman doubtfully. "Zey are very strong…."

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," Dumbledore promised.

"Very well," she said with a slight bow "Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to," Dumbledore said with his own bow.

"Come," Madame Maxime to her students before leading them up the steps and into the entrance hall of the castle.

Merlin watched the two lines of students following their Mistress quickly, all except for three girls at the end of one of the lines. They were giggling, one of them whispering just loud enough for the other two to hear and they did not seem in any hurry to get inside, decide how cold they must be. Two of them had long, blonde hair, one more tended to than the other, while the third light brown hair coming down to the center of her back, she was the one whispering to the other two.

"I hope Durmstrang gets here soon" Gwaine said, looking over the tree line for any sign of the other school.

"Getting tired of standing?" Arthur asked in a sarcastic voice.

"Shut it princess, I just don't like having to wait on a bunch of snobs" he replied.

"Yeah, well why don't you tell that to the snob's faces?" Arthur challenged.

"Sure, show me where they are" Gwaine replied.

Arthur stretched his arm out to point to the center of the lake just as someone cried out "It's a mast!"

A long, black pole was rising out of the center of the lake followed by a white sail which was pouring large amounts of water off of itself to fall back into the lake where it had come from as the rest of ship began revealing itself.

"Okay, I'll admit that's kind of neat" Gwaine muttered under his breath.

The ship came out of the water fully, bobbing on the water for a moment as it calmed down, before it made its way steadily to the bank of the lake. The splash of the anchor dropping signaled its docking, followed moments later by a plank being lowered to the shore.

A group of people stepped out, their silhouettes made bulky by the large fur cloaks each had on. The man in the front wore his own set of furs, though his were a sleek silver that matched the greying of his hair and beard, which was trimmed into neat goatee.

"Dumbledore!" he called jovially as he led his students up towards the castle. "how are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore beamed back.

Karkaroff took Dumbledore's offered hand in both of his own and shook it enthusiastically.

"Dear old Hogwarts," he said with a smile which did not reach his eyes as he took in the castle. "How good it is to be here, how good….Viktor, come along, into the warmth… you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…"

One of the students broke away from the rest and joined his Professor to wakl into the castle making the mass of Hogwarts students start a small rumble of one word being repeated and passed along "_Krum!"_

Behind the large boy and the Professor the rest of the Durmstrang students stood in attention waiting apparently for instructions from their Professor who was currently making sure Krum was getting inside of the warm castle.

"It looks like one of Durmstrang boys shares your sentiments about snobs" Arthur whispered to Gwaine nodding his head at a tall, lanky but muscular boy with shaggy brown hair that just came to rest over his blue eyes which looked on fire with annoyance as he watched to Quidditch player led inside while he and the others stood along with the Hogwarts students, simply waiting to be told to go inside.

"I guess they can't all be bad" Gwaine shrugged his shoulders "not that proves anything other than he's a bit jealous"

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**So my last few chapters have all ended with Gwaine getting the last word, and I'm starting to like the pattern, so I'm just going to try and do it as often as possible.**

**By the way, I did just introduce four characters that have been on Merlin before, there was a fifth in there (technically a sixth too, but she's been there the whole time and she will not come in 'till later)**


	10. Chapter 10

"I can't believe Krum is still in _school!" _Mordred said, falling out of line so he could sit next to the others once they reached the Great Hall.

"Yeah, and it looks like he's expected to be the champion from the way Karkaroff was drooling over him," Gwaine said, trying to sound unimpressed.

"Of course he's going to be the champion" Arthur said, watching the other school's students looking curious about where to sit "who would the judge pick over a Quidditch star?"

"He might if the judge doesn't like Quidditch" Merlin said, earning him three looks that said that was impossible.

The Beauxbatons found seats at the Ravenclaw table while the Slytherins made room for the Durmstrang students. A t the front of the hall, Filch was setting out four extra chairs.

"Why is he adding four chairs?" Merlin asked.

Gwaine shrugged his shoulders "Maybe he can't count"

A few moments later, when all the students had sat down, the staff entered from a side door, filing in to sit along the table at the front of the Great Hall. At the end of the line, the three head masters walked up to the middle of the table.

When the Beauxbaton students saw their Head Mistress, they all leapt to their feet, making the Hogwarts students burst into laughter, though the Beauxbaton students did not look embarrassed. They stayed standing until Madam Maxime had taken her own seat to the left of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore however, stayed standing, making the Great Hall fall silent.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and –most particularly—guests," he said, smiling at the foreign students. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," he continued. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

The plates in front of them began to fill with food, a wider variety than usual which included some obviously foreign dishes. The Great Hall seemed to be far more crowded than usual, even though only nearly twenty extra students joined them. The foreign students, in their differently colored uniforms, blue for the Beauxbatons and deep red for Durmstrang, stood out from the Hogwarts students.

Nearly thirty minutes into the feast after one of the Beauxbaton girls had walked over to ask for some extra dish which her table had finished off, Merlin noticed two men enter and take their seats in the two extra chairs at the staff table.

"Who're they?" Gwaine asked curiously, only getting shrugs in response.

When the plates were cleaned off, Dumbledore rose to his feet again, making the Hall fall silent once more as the students stared at him excitedly.

"The moment has come," he said looking around the room. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head for the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

The crowd applauded the two men.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few month on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament, and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

"The casket then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

The old caretaker, who had been lurking in a corner until just then, approached Dumbledore with a very old-looking, wooden chest.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman" Dumbledore said as Filch placed the casket on the table in front of him "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three takes, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess—their daring—their powers of deduction—and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament," Dumbledore went on calmly, "one form each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector" The Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore now took out his wand and tapped the top of the casket three times. The lid creaked open, allowing Dumbledore to reach inside and pull out a large, roughly hewn, wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable if it had not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. Dumbledore closed the casket and set the goblet on top.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet," said Dumbledore. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names of the three it as judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight. Where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Goodnight to you all."

"It does sound tempting," Gwaine admitted "if you could get past the Age Line"

"I'm sure it'd be difficult" Arthur replied as though that made the tournament that much more exciting "what about you Merlin?"

"It sounds like a bunch of idiots wanting to get themselves hurt over a few pieces of gold."

"Could you do it?" Mordred asked suddenly, making the others look at him questioningly "Do you think you could trick the Age Line?"

"For you, no" Merlin answered quickly. "If say Gwaine wanted me to try though…."

Gwaine and Arthur's eyes landed on Merlin.

"Dumbledore is powerful though," he added "and clever"

Gwaine wrapped an arm around Merlin's shoulder "so are you, mate"

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The next day, though it was Saturday which usually meant Gwaine and Arthur would sleep in, but they were up before Merlin. Gwaine was ready to skip breakfast—though Arthur persuaded him to stp for some toast—to get to the entrance hall quicker.

Already about twenty people were milling around, examining the Goblet of Fire. It had been set on the stool used for the sorting hat, in the middle of the entrance hall with a thin golden line drawn around it with a diameter of nearly ten feet.

"So, what do you say, Merlin?" Gwaine asked past an apple he had grabbed from the Great Hall "can you do it?"

Merlin looked at the Age Line, from where they sat against one of the walls "I need to see someone underage cross it"

"I'm sure the twins will be down any minute" Arthur said.

"Hey guys" Mordred said, coming up to sit next to them.

"Mordred" Arthur nodded his head and Gwaine lifted his hand.

"I think the Durmstrang lot are about to put their names in" Gwaine said, looking at the end of the hall.

Krum, still wearing the blood red uniform, led the Durmstrang students in a single file line. Each boy held a folded piece of parchment in his or her hand, and each had a determined look on his or face as though this were the first task.

As Krum's large feet crossed the Age Line, the others behind him stopped, waiting as he threw in his name.

A cheer rose from all of the people—and even a few of the Durmstrang students—in the room. With a look of indifference, the boy turned on his heel and walked out without waiting for his peers to submit their own name.

Person by person, the Durmstrang students waited for each other to submit their name and walk off until there were only two boys left.

The one next in line was the boy Merlin had noticed the night before, his light brown hair hanging almost in his eyes. Behind him, stood a boy with a sneer planted on his face, standing a foot shorter than the boy in front of him, dark greasy hair falling around his face.

The greasy haired boy placed a hand on the brown haired boys shoulder, stopping him from stepping across the line.

"Move over, I'm tired of waiting on everyone"

"Well this is a great time to bring it up" the brown haired boy replied, turning to look at his fellow student with a raised eyebrow "why are you bringing this up now, Cenred?"

"Listen, Tristan, it's not like you even have a chance" Cenred said with a sneer.

"Why's that?" Tristan asked, his tone having lowered dangerously.

"Why do you think?" he asked and leaned forward to whisper something that only Tristan could here, making the boy smile.

"In that case," he said, taking a step back and giving the other boy a very sarcastic bow "go ahead, Your Highness"

With another smirk, Cenred strutted forward and dropped his slip of paper int the goblet. No one clapped, though that did not deter him from sauntering away.

"You're not going to make it either Cenred, even with that Spotless lineage backing you up" Tristan called out, walking up and throwing his name in the fire without care. As he turned to walk away, his eyes met Merlin's and he gave a smile that said he lived to embarrass people like Cenred in front of others.

A girl, sixth or seventh year, wearing a Ravenclaw scarf loosely around her shoulders with her blonde hair braided to one side was walking up the entrance hall. She stopped right in front of Tristan who was trying to leave and gave him a smile Merlin was having a hard time reading.

"M'lady" he said, stepping back once again, this time simply gesturing for the girl to go past him. He stood there until she threw her own paper—which was folded into a flower—into the fire, walking away before she turned around.

"I'm not really sure what just happened" admitted Arthur.

"Then you're an idiot" Gwaine replied.

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**One more chapter! Whoo! Hope you guys enjoyed, and I did mean to add in more extra people in this chapter, but they're coming in the next one. **


	11. Chapter 11

Elyan and Percy joined the four boys soon after the Durmstrang students left. They came in right behind Harry, Hermione, and Ron who took a seat on the other side of the hall to watch people submit their names.

"Well, here comes your test" Arthur said to Merlin, nodding at Fred, George and Lee Jordan as they leapt off the last few steps of the stair case.

"They look pretty confident" observed Percy as they talked quietly with Harry and the others.

They did; all three of them. Fred—or was it George?—walked past the line, every eye in the hall on him and stood triumphantly, as nothing had happened. George, reassured by his brother's success, jumped past the line to stand next to him.

Just as they were about to throw their names into the fire, a sizzling sound filled the hall and the two boys were sent flying ten feet out of the circle, landing roughly on their backsides. A loud pop filled the air and everyone laughed as the twins grew identical long, white beards. When the boys got a look at one another, their laughter joined the others.

"I did warn you," said Dumbledore coming out from the Great Hall. "I suggest you both go see Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything as fine as yours."

The twins both left, Lee Jordan following howling with laugher behind them, Harry, Ron and Hermione walking off to the Great Hall, still chuckling under their breath.

"Well Mr. Pendragon," Merlin jumped, not having noticed the Had Master had come to stand next to them "I am mildly surprised you are not also seeking some shaving cream form Madam Pomfrey"

"Ah-ha," Arthur muttered, making Merlin realize Dumbledore had addressed Arthur "I—uh… I mean to say that, we—"

"We wanted to see how your spell worked first" admitted Gwaine who was much less embarrassed to admit he was planning to go against a Professor's instructions.

To everyone's surprise, Dumbledore chuckled "you lot remind me of a couple of students that used to attend Hogwarts. This seems like something they would do. Do be careful however, I cannot guarantee one of you will not find a way past my Age Line" his eyes glanced at Merlin with a warmth in them he was not expecting "but be aware it was put there for a reason"

"To be honest, sir," Arthur replied "that's what makes it so appealing.

Dumbledore laughed loudly "To be so young and full of such courage. Promise you won't let all of this excitement get in the way of your studies" the man said in way of a farewell.

"That sounded like encouragement" Elyan spoke up after Dumbledore disappeared up the staircase.

Five heads turned to look at Merlin pleadingly.

With a roll of his eyes, Merlin waved Gwaine to stand in front of him. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Merlin let a spell fall out of his mouth, the words sounding harsh and drawing more magic than most spells required.

When Merlin dared to open his eyes, the boy in front of him had grown several inches in height, making his robes fall short. His hair was longer, his muscles more defined and a wisp of facial hair could be seen along his chin.

The four boys behind Merlin let out a chorus of surprised gasps, seeing a lawlessly older version of their friend.

"Any of you have a quill and some spare parchment?" he asked.

"I do" Gwen said, coming up behind the newly aged Gwaine.

"Mind if I borrow some?" he asked, even as she was already rooting through the bag she had slung over one shoulder to find some.

She handed him the quill and parchment which he used to quickly write down his name.

With a deep breath, the boy walked forward, hesitating only slightly before stepping over the golden line.

Once again, the whole hall was filled with a sizzling sound and Gwaine was flung out of the circle. A few feet away, Gwaine sat up, back to his normal age, with a white beard growing along his face.

Gwaine ran a hand through the white hair and looked up at the ceiling ponderously "Back in my day, it wasn't so hard to put your name into a cup"

Everyone watching laughed at their friend as he acted like an old man, going so far as to make Percy and Leon help him up and to the nurses office.

"That's a no to you getting us into the competition, then?" Lance asked, having walked in with Gwen and Leon.

"Looks like" Merlin said, not too sorry about the outcome.

Just then, the door to the grounds opened, and the students from Beauxbatons entered, Madame Maxime coming in behind them, ordering them into a line the same way the students from Durmstrang had done. At the front of this line stood a girl with silvery blonde hair that fell straight down to the middle of her back.

"That's Fleur," Elyan said, being a Ravenclaw he knew more about the Beauxbaton students since they had sat with them at the feast. "She's the one everyone expects to be picked from Beauxbatons, apparently she's part veela"

"She's certainly getting enough attention to be one" Gwen observed, watching how almost every male in the hall was tracking the girl's movements with their eyes. The Knights all averted their own eyes, acting innocent, and Merlin wished Gwaine was there so he could make a joke about the situation.

Unlike the Durmstrang students, the Beauxbaton contestants stayed to wait for each of their peers to drop their names in before their Head Mistress led them out of the hall and back to the grounds.

Three girls however, the same ones Merlin recalled seeing the night before, hung back, waiting for their Mistress to enter the carriage before coming farther back into the hall, and straight for Merlin and the Knights.

The brown haired girl seemed to be leading the other two, and was the first to introduce herself, sticking her hand out to Gwen who was still standing as the boys sat.

"My name's Mithian, these two are Eleine and Vivvian, I assume you're from Hogwarts"

"Yes," Gwen replied "My name's Guinevere, everyone calls me Gwen though. It's nice to meet you"

Mithian nodded her head politely and looked down to the boys, waiting for them to introduce themselves.

"My name's Elyan, I'm Gwen's brother" Elyan held his hand out to Mitihian who took it readily.

"I'm Lance"

"Mordred" the second year went on, his cheeks reddening a little as Mithian looked at him.

"Arthur" Arthur said, extending his hand, before gesturing to Merlin "and this is my brother Merlin"

"Merlin?" laughed one of the blonde girls, the one whose hair was up in a messy bun "really?"

"That's me" Merlin replied with a rueful smile.

"OH" she said, slightly mortified that she had laughed at his name.

"Don't worry, I get that reaction a lot" he said, making her smile sheepishly at him.

"I bet you all do" said the other blonde, her hair pulled up neatly, most of it falling down her back, though not as long as the veela girls.

"Mind if we ask why you didn't follow your Head Mistress?" Gwen asked kindly.

Mithian turned back to Gwen "Well, it gets crowded in that carriage, even though it's little more than half the size of your Great Hall. We wanted to see Hogwarts"

Vivvian gave a small humph "speak for yourself, I've seen enough"

"You didn't have to come with us" Eleine remarked. "Sorry about her, she's not really that bad"

Arthur stood up from where he had been sitting "Will your Professor be angry that you didn't come back?"

"Probably" Eleine shrugged her shoulders.

"But it can't come back to you, even if you show us around" Mithian quickly supplied "not that we're asking you to show us around, we don't mind exploring for ourselves"

Arthur nodded his head and sat back down "It's a great place, but it is kind of large. The staircases move around, but you should be fine"

"Thanks" Mithian said, smiling at Arthur.

"Sure" he replied.

Nearly an hour later, they were still sitting in the entrance hall, rejoined by Gwaine, Percy and Leon, when they saw Morgause enter the hall, Morgana, taking one look at them, turning around and walking away.

Morgause barely spared them a glance before walking up and throwing her piece of parchment in the fire.

"Good luck" Arthur called out after her "I figure you'll need it to get over not being picked as champion. When she walked out of the Age Line however, she decided to stop in front of them.

"Well, none of you going to try and enter your names?" she asked, coming up to them.

"Age Line" they all said in unison, Merlin breaking off to ask "exactly how long have you been seventeen?"

"Two weeks" she answered.

"And if you hadn't of been seventeen in time?" Merlin asked.

"I still would have entered" she answered.

"You still wouldn't have been chosen" Arthur answered.

"We'll see tonight when the Cup decides the champions" she replied before walking away.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

The Halloween feast seemed to take much longer than usual. Everyone was growing impatient, waiting for the champions' to be selected.

When the plates finally did clear, everyone was already silent, waiting for the Dumbledore to speak even as he stood up.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision," Said Dumbledore. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber"—he indicated the door behind the staff table—"where they will be receiving their first instructions."

Dumbledore waved his wand and the candles throughout the room, except for the ones keeping the jack-o-lanterns lit, went out. Now, the Goblet of Fire was the main source of light in the room, making it seem brighter than ever.

The flames in the goblet turned a bright red. Sparks began to fly from it. Next moment, a tongue of flame shot into the air, a charred piece of parchment fluttered out of it—the whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it at arm's length, so that he could read ti by the light of the flames, which had turned back to its normal blue-white.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read loudly "will be Viktor Krum."

The room erupted in cheers as the Durmstrang boy rose form where he sat at the Slytherin table and walked up to go past the staff table and into a side door that led to the next chamber.

"Bravo, Viktor!" KarKaroff yelled out "Knew you had it in you!"

"Told you" Gwaine said to Merlin.

"Yes, you knew that a goblet was a fan of Quidditch" Merlin replied back and Gwaine nodded his head as though that was exactly what he had meant.

Slowly, the cheering died down, everyone's attention returning to Dumbledore as he stood next to the goblet, waiting for the next champion to be named. Seconds later, the question was answered as the cup blazed red and another piece of parchment was thrown into the air, only to be caught easily by Dumbledore.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Dumbledore, "is Fleur Delacour!"

Merlin watched as the veela-girl stood, flipping her hair over her shoulder, before walking up along the staff table, and to the chamber through the side door.

"I kind of wish it would have been Mithian" Merlin said to Arthur who nodded his head.

"She would have been a good choice" he admitted, but he continued to clap for Fleur.

Once again the cup blazed red, another piece of parchment floating up into the air, which Dumbledore pulled out of the air.

"The Hogwarts champion," he called "is Cedric Diggory!"

"Who?" Merlin asked, even as the whole of Hogwarts—mainly the Hufflepuff table which jumped to their feet—erupted into an explosion of applause.

"The Hufflepuff Quidditch captain" Arthur answered.

It took a long time for Dumbledore to address the crowd again as the applause continued for Cedric, though when it did, he looked extremely pleased.

"Excellent!" he said. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students form Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. BY cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real—"

Dumbledore was interrupted as the Goblet of Fire once again flared red, sparking and sending out a tongue of flame with a piece of parchment that Dumbledore caught nimbly.

The man stared at the parchment for a moment in stunned silence before looking out to the crowd, and calling loudly, his voice filled with uncertainty.

"_Harry Potter!"_

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**Before you review, no, I did not forget to make Merlin a champion, yes this is how I planned to do this chapter, and that was slightly a cliff hanger because I decided not to make him a champion. Hope you enjoyed !**


	12. Chapter 12

"How'd he get past the line?" "Of course it was him" "Should have guessed" The Great hall was buzzing with the sound of the students' steadily rising voices as Harry walked through the same door as the three champions.

Dumbledore, who had an eerie calm about him, once again addressed the crowd as the cup next to him died down to a small flame.

"If you all will head back to your houses, and our guests back to their living quarters" and without another word, Dumbledore quickly followed Ludo Bagman through the same door the champions had vanished into, Crouch, the other Headmasters, Professors Snape and McGonagall trailing behind him.

"Do you think they'll let him compete?" Gwaine asked still staring at the door they had all went through.

"They can't," Arthur answered, having to shout to be heard over the sea of voices speaking at the same time "not with the age restriction and besides, only three champions are allowed"

"Listen up!" shouted Moody, pushing himself up from the staff table, his magical eye pointed to the back of his head, probably looking into the chamber off of the Great Hall. "Dumbledore said to get back to your houses. You can talk there. Go on!"

This time, the room emptied, the students too afraid of Moody to try and stay to talk even as he followed the other adults into the chamber to discuss the fourth champion.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"How'd he do it?" Gwaine pondered, "I mean if Merlin's spell couldn't do get me across…"

"Looks like everyone's wants to ask him" Arthur pointed out as they filed into the Gryffindor common room to find Fred and George giving Lee Jordan and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team instructions. When they were sure their instructions had been understood, they pushed their way back through the line of students to get out of the portrait hole.

"Where are they going?" Gwaine asked Angelina.

"To get some food to celebrate" she answered quickly before walking away, presumably to decorate.

"Looks like they think Harry could win" commented Merlin.

"I sure does," Arthur responded taking a seat in one of the red arm chairs by the fire place.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Merlin was starting to feel bad for Harry. It was easy to tell, if you were looking for it, that the boy had no wish to be in this competition. Harry had never been one for attention, and now it looked like he had more than ever.

Merlin had barely seen the boy Sunday—the day after the naming of the champions. He was sure Harry had been doing his best to avoid everyone, and he found he could not blame him.

Monday however, he was forced to show up for classes and it was clear that the other houses were not as supportive of him as Gryffindor. Herbology was an unusually quiet affair, the Hufflepuff students were ignoring the Gryffindor's, other than Gwen, Lance and Leon who still seemed a little annoyed about the situation though they did speak with their friends.

Care of Magical Creatures went as predicted. Malfoy was waiting, ready to make fun of Harry, Morgana standing right next to the blonde. Hagrid put a quick end to it however by making them walk the quickly growing blast-ended skrewts to everyone's dismay.

Within the next few days, Ron began hanging around with them some, other times with his brothers or Dean and Seamus, anywhere except for with Harry. Malfoy had created a button that read "Support Cedric Diggory—the real Hogwarts champion" and when pressed, "Potter Stinks"

The badges seemed to be a step too far, causing a fight between Harry and Draco. In the hallway outside of the potions chamber, the two pulled out their wands and tried to hex each other, but their shots ricocheted to hit Goyle and Hermione instead. It was only made worse when Harry was called out of Snape's class for an interview which resulted in a horrible article printed in the _Daily Prophet_.

On the Saturday before the first task was set to take place, the third years and above were allowed to visit the village of Hogsmeade along with the guest students.

The Knights, once again without Morgana, met up at the entrance hall after breakfast to walk into town together. Gwen, Lance and Leon were all wearing one of the buttons Malfoy had passed around the school, though Gwen insisted she never let it switch to the other sign of 'Potter stinks'.

Percy and Elyan refused to wear the buttons, though they did admit that they were rooting for Cedric and thought Harry should not be allowed to compete in the tournament.

"Well, if you believe what he says, he doesn't want to after all" Elyan shrugged.

"Yeah, and he doesn't, but it's not his choice, and his own school shouldn't be shunning him for that" Gwaine replied.

"C'mon guys," Arthur intervened "let's not worry about it. That's all anyone has been talking about since Halloween, so let's just change the subject"

"You mean to the stick up Morgana's—" Gwaine started but was cut off by Arthur punching him in the shoulder.

"Something else" he insisted.

"How about what all I need to get from the candy shop?" Gwen asked, making four of their group groan in unison. Gwen loved buying a large amount of candy every time she came to Hogsmeade so that she could use it for Christmas presents.

"It's a nice thought and all Gwen," Elyan said "but maybe this year you could give us something that doesn't rot our teeth out?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders "Fine, but I have plenty more people who enjoy getting candy for Christmas"

"I need a new quill," Percy put in, glancing over at Elyan "someone thought it would be a good toy for a cat. The little devil tore it up"

Elyan shrugged his shoulders in a good imitation of his sister, but did not say anything.

"I should get something for Mage" Merlin said, thinking about the cat Freya had left him. The little tortoiseshell had taken to him quicker than he had imagined, and was usually found sleeping on his bed.

"Maybe Percy can help you pick out a good quill" Gwaine laughed, making Percy swing playfully at him.

Laden down with bags of candy, Gwen led the others into the Three Broomsticks, where they found Morgana sitting with a group of Slytherins, all with a 'Potter Stinks' badge hooked to the front of their cloaks. Everyone turned to look at Arthur who just walked to an empty table and sat down.

Gwaine ordered them each a glass of butterbeer which they all sipped at quietly. Merlin was about to say something to break the tension when Morgause sauntered over to their table, an amused expression on her face.

"You lot look like you're in mourning. What's wrong, didn't have enough candy for you Gwen?" she asked, looking down at Gwen's bags.

"Cute" Gwen smiled up at the Slytherin before looking away, unperturbed.

A slight frown pulled at Morgause's eyebrows from Gwen's lack of response, but she turned to Arthur "Bet you wish your name came out of the Goblet"

"Bet you do" Arthur responded, looking up at her with a smirk.

"I do actually" she answered, tossing her hair over her shoulder "but of course, Potter stole the spotlight"

"What about Diggory?" Percy asked "seems like he got the spot fair and square, you mad at him too?" 

"Diggory?" she asked "I'm sure he'll lose in the first task. There's something wrong with that cup if you ask me"

"So sure you'd make a better champion?" Arthur asked.

"Of course I would, any of the Slytherin's would have done" she answered "at least the Hogwarts champion wasn't a Gryffindor though"

"But it was," Gwaine smirked "did you already forget about Harry, you were complaining about him just a second ago"

Morgause narrowed her eyes "Harry doesn't count as the champion for Hogwarts. Moody's already said that the cup must have been charmed to think he was from another school, so he's competing for himself. Sure, if he wins, the honor will go to Hogwarts, but if he loses, which he will, it'll be because he was fool enough to enter the competition."

"Why'd you come over here Morgause?" Arthur asked.

She smiled wickedly "to ask who you were rooting for of course. I'm sure some of you want that pretty face form Beauxbatons to take home the cup"

Gwen scoffed "I highly doubt that she's going to make it farther than the interview room"

"Really, why's that?" Morgause asked, looking over their heads, making the whole table turn to see the three girls from Beauxbatons looking at them. "Have fun with that conversation"

Morgause walked back to her own table, laughing with the rest of the Slytherins as the three Beauxbaton girls came to stand over the Knight's table.

"Fleur's a lot tougher than she looks" Mithian stated, her back straight, and glaring down her nose at Gwen.

"She'd have to be," snorted Eliene behind her, ruining the moment and making Vivvian laugh.

Mithian rolled her eyes, but did not disagree, instead, she and the others pulled up chairs to sit with the Knights. "Tell us about Cedric."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They spent the rest of their time in Hogsmeade going over the champions' strong points, their flaws, and their chances of winning. None of them, even the Gryffindor's, really thought Harry would win, but by the end, they had all decided that he had not entered his own name.

Cedric seemed the likeliest choice for winner, Krum a close second. Fluer, they felt would lose because of her big head, and Harry because of his lack of experience. Krum, though wonderful at Quidditch, seemed to be at a disadvantage on the ground, and unless the competition would take place in the air, he would not beat Cedric.

Vivvian, who seemed more interested in talking to Arthur, did not really care about how the tournament went. Since she had not been chosen as champion, it was not important. Mithian and Eliene on the other hand, were both excited to be in a new place and made the Knights show them around Hogsmeade before walking back up to the castle for the evening meal.

There were few people in the Great Hall, most of them having stuffed themselves at Hogsmeade. All the students were, however, supposed to be back at the castle in time for the meal whether they intended to eat or not.

At the end of the meal, Dumbledore rose to his feet, causing the small crowd to fall into silence.

"I would ask every student to return to their house. It seems one of our students has yet to return to the castle, and until they are found we are asking you to stay in your common rooms or dormitories" he said somberly, looking around the room.

"Who is it?" yelled one of the students, and Merlin was fairly sure it was one of the Weasley twins.

Dumbledore took in a deep breath before answering the question "Cedric Diggory"

**Well, that's how I'm getting Merlin to face the dragons, anyone expecting that?**


	13. Chapter 13

The prefects guided the students back to their houses, while Madam Maxime and Professor Karkaroff led their students to their living quarters.

The Gryffindor common room was uncomfortably full as every one milled around, hoping to hear news about Cedric.

"I wonder if he ran." Mordred said, sitting on the ground with his back against one of the sofas where Arthur, Gwaine and Merlin sat.

"Ran?" Gwaine asked "I doubt it. He would have at least participated in the first task"

"What else could it be?" Mordred asked.

When no one else answered, Arthur finally spoke up "someone could have taken him"

"Or killed him" Gwaine added somberly.

"He might have just got lost" Merlin suggested.

"Merlin," Arthur said "_you_ couldn't get lost in Hogsmeade"

"Doesn't mean it couldn't happen" he shrugged his shoulders.

"Hopefully they just made a mistake and he's somewhere in the castle" Arthur sighed.

"What do you suppose will happen if he isn't found?" Gwaine asked after a moment of silence.

"They'll have to go on with the tournament" Arthur answered.

"Do you think they'll get a replacement champion?" Gwaine insisted.

"They have Harry" Arthur replied.

"But if they started with four, wouldn't four have to attend the first task?" Merlin asked.

The whole room froze as someone crawled through the portrait hole, Professor McGonagall following close behind. The man, or boy—he was barely out of school—held his hand out to help McGonagall through, which she accepted gratefully.

"Professor, have you found Diggory yet?" asked one of the seventh years.

"Not as of yet," she answered tiredly, straightening her robes "we have contacted the Ministry however, and they have sent over some aurors to help with the search."

"This," she gestured to the boy next to her "is Auror Gili. He's come to ask if any of you remember seeing anyone or anything suspicious at Hogsmeade this afternoon. Those of you under third year, I ask that you go to your dorms until he is finished." 

"It's fine Professor," he insisted, waving for the younger students to stay where they were "some of them might have noticed something off about Diggory before he left the castle"

Gili stood tall next to Professor McGonagall, an easy smile on his face. His robes wore dark and would likely blend in easily with any surroundings, which was supported by his unremarkable short, brown hair.

Professor McGonagall nodded her head and took a seat in the corner of the common room, apparently going to stay as long as the auror.

Gili moved around the room, questioning groups of students, nodding his head at their answers and moving on. When he reached Merlin and the others, he still wore that simple smile, and he looked perfectly at ease despite the fact that there was a missing student.

"Guess you guys went to Hogsmeade?" he asked conversationally. 

"We were there, but I didn't see Cedric at all" Gwaine answered.

Gili nodded and turned to the others "I didn't see anything wrong" Arthur agreed.

"Nothing strange" Merlin commented, thinking about Morgause trying to goad them as usual.

"Second year," Modred informed him "but I haven't noticed anything here".

"Thanks guys" Gili said simply before walking on to another group of students.

"Does he actually think he's going to find Cedric by asking us one question?" Gwaine scoffed.

"Maybe he thinks we would say something if we knew anything" Merlin said.

"But if someone really did do this to him, they wouldn't say anything, would they?" Arthur pointed out.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Classes were canceled the next day and the whole school was gathered into the Great Hall, along with the guest students. Dumbledore stood in front of the staff table soberly. Five robed men lined stood along the wall, their faces expressionless. Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch stood a few paces behind Dumbledore.

"Cedric Diggory is missing." He announced, though the school already knew, it was still shocking to hear Dumbledore admit it. "The aruros and some of our teachers have done a thorough search of Hogsmeade, the others have searched the castle from top to bottom.

"Amos Diggory—Cedric's father—has been informed of his son's disappearance, and until he is found we will be playing host to the five aurors standing behind me"

Ludo Bagman stepped up and clapped Dumbledore on the shoulder making the older man give him and appraising look.

"I just want to reassure all of you," the man said, his hand still on Dumbledore's shoulder "that this is not suspected to have anything to do with the Triwizard Tournament. However, due to one of the champions going missing, we have decided to push the first task back by a week."

"I am aware," Dumbledore went on, making Bagman step back, though his face said he was not done with his speech "that many of you are wondering if we well choose another champion. The other judges and I have decided to wait and see if Cedric returns, or can be found—"

The Goblet of Fire, which still stood next to Dumbledore, where it had been on Halloween, flickered, barely noticeably.

"As for the other champions, it is advised that you stay near a teacher at all times—"

Merlin watched as the small flame began to gain life, growing in size.

"Only to be careful" Dumbledore finished.

Once again, the Goblet of Fire sparked into a brilliant red and a tongue of flame licked out of the cup, drawing everyone's attention to the slip of parchment that Dumbledore deftly caught in one hand.

Without unfolding the parchment, he turned his back to the student body "If the Triwizard judges would please follow me for a moment"

Visibly shaken up, the five judges made their way once again through the side chamber off of the Great Hall.

As before, a gentle buzz of the students murmured conversations filled the great hall.

Merlin however, continued to watch the staff table. Professor McGonagall was rubbing her head with one hand and Professors Sprout and Flitwick were conversing with each other quietly. Snape looked confused and suspicious, eyeing the Goblet of Fire as though wondering how it worked while Hagrid looked ready to toss the thing into the lake. Professor Moody had his magic eye trained to the back of his head while his real eye roamed the room even as he took a long drink from his flask.

"They didn't make it do that" Arthur observed "so, why would it choose a new champion without being prompted to?"

"It must know Cedric won't be competing" Gwaine replied.

The trio was quiet after that, Arthur and Gwaine mirroring Merlin and watching the staff table. By the time the Judges had come back out, the whole student body had quieted and was staring.

Dumbledore surveyed his students with tired eyes.

"The judges have gone over the rules and have come to the conclusion that the cup as decided that Cedric is incapable of competing in the tournament. In his pace will be whoever the cup has picked. In light of this decision, if Cedric is to return before the first task, he will not be allowed to contend."

Dumbledore held up the folded piece of parchment and carefully pulled it apart.

With a deep sigh that could be heard through the whole castle, Dumbledore read the parchment.

"Hogwarts…Merlin Pendragon."

The only sound Merlin could hear was his heart pumping all of the blood in his body to his head as every head in the hall turned toward him, except for Arthur who had buried his head in his hands.

"Merlin," Dumbledore announced "if you'll head to the chamber we will explain the terms of the tournament"

With a shuddering breath, Merlin pushed his weight up against the table top, his legs shaking uncontrollably.

Standing between two house tables, Merlin's eyes landed on Harry. Someone he knew would understand. The boy gave a rueful and half smile and a small nod of encouragement.

With that, Merlin took a small step forward and the next thing he knew, he was pulling open the door to the side chamber. Unsure of how foolish or scared he looked as he walked up here, he quickly pulled himself inside the chamber, closing the door behind him. The room was lit only by the glowing fire in the hearth that had Merlin wishing he could destroy the stupid cup that had put him in this position.

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**Sorry about all the mistakes, I really wanted to get this chapter done and I had a horrible headache. **


	14. Chapter 14

A few minutes after Merlin entered the small chamber, he was joined by Dumbledore and the other judges as well as a narrowed eyed Snape and a red faced McGonagall.

"You cannot be serious, Dumbledore" McGonagall fumed before she had even closed the door behind her.

"I am as sorry as you Minerva," he answered "but there is nothing to be done"

"Potter has already been entered, we can't put in a second underage wizard" she argued.

"I agree with Professor McGonagall" Snape said, step ping forward "We already have a champion for the school"

"We have already decided 'zat we would let the next champion compete" Madam Maxime said, looking down her nose at Snape.

"Were you not the ne saying Hogwarts should only be allowed one champion?" Snape asked one eyebrow raised.

"Come on, now" Ludo Bagman interrupted, pushing his way between the two Professors "We've been over the rules, and his name was chosen. As we said at the beginning of the tournament, anyone who submitted his or her name made a binding agreement—"

"But I didn't enter my name!" Merlin said loudly, making the adults turn to him for the first time since they entered the room.

"Neither did Mr. Potter" roared Bagman jovially.

"Exactly why we should be concerned" Professor Moody said from the doorway.

With a quick glance back at the Defense Teacher, Snape spoke "Mad-Eye has a point Headmaster. Both boys are underage, convinced they did not enter their own names, and have been targeted by dark wizards in the past"

"And they made it!" Ludo Bagman exclaimed "that's probably why they were chosen!"

"I am sorry, Severus" Dumbledore said, looking at the potions master imploringly "but the rules—"

"I don't want to compete!" Merlin shouted, interrupting the Headmaster.

Bagman looked confused for only a moment before a wide grin crossed his face and he came forward and clapped a heavy hand on Merlin's shoulder "Don't be so modest! Of course you do, and you aren't in any trouble for putting your name in. In fact, I'd love to know how the two of you managed it…"

"What are you—" Merlin shook his head but was interrupted by the man once again.

"I suppose you'll be wanting some information about the tournament" he cleared his throat importantly.

"Not really" Merlin mumbled.

"The first task is designed to test your daring, so we are not going to be telling you what it is." He said as though he had memorized a speech, which he probably had "Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard…very important.

"The first task was set to take place on the twenty-fourth, however, due to Cedric's… disappearance… we have kept our word about moving back the date. It will now be held on the first of December however, this will not be effecting the date of the other challenges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed with only their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions—er, you—will be exempt from end-of-year tests"

Merlin knew his face must look horrified, but no one said anything, instead, Bagman gave his shoulder another pat and said merrily "Best of luck, m'boy!"

Each of the judges shook Merlin's hand before leaving the chamber until he was left with Dumbledore and the other three Hogwarts' Professors.

Dumbledore came up to stand in front of Merlin "Mr. Pendragon, I have a bit of advice before you leave this room. The cup has chosen you to take Cedric's place, and this is going to make you a target for both ill and good attentions. There will be those who will believe you did something to Cedric to take his place, some who will be rooting for you to win. It is possible there will even be those who would wish to take your place, however once the first task is complete, there can be no more substitutions for champions"

"What exactly was the advice, sir?" Merlin asked when it became clear he was not going to say anything more.

"Be careful" he said seriously before shaking Merlin's hand and exiting the room.

McGonagall stepped forward then, her lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval "I hope you the best of luck, Mr. Pendragon. Goodness knows you'll be needing it"

Professor Moody took her place as she exited "I suggest you study up on some useful spells"

Professor Snape waited for Professor Moody to leave before he rounded on Merlin "How could you be so stupid!"

"What?" Merlin said angrily "you think I did it? You actually think I put my name in that cup?"

"No" Snape said, in a quieter tone, pinching the top of his nose between his eyes as though his head hurt "I don't think you're that stupid. But for you _and_ Potter to be picked—"

"You think someone wanted us in the tournament for a reason?" Merlin questioned.

"The cup did not pick your names by coincidence alone" he answered.

"What reason would they have for entering us if they could just take Cedric from Hogsmeade?"

Snape looked at Merlin a moment before he spoke "Potter would hardly have gone missing without our noticing far sooner than we did with Cedric. How that happened though… none of our students should be able to disappear so easily, whether of their own accord or otherwise…."

"Well, then why even enter me? Instead of Cedric, if they wanted me dead, or whatever this is about, why not confront me in Hogsmeade and leave Harry to face the Tournament?"

"You might only be a fourth year, but anyone who wanted you in the same danger as Potter must know how special you are. In that case, I doubt that whoever is doing this plans for either of you to die, though they are certainly taking a risk for that to happen" Snape answered.

"So you think they mean to set some kind of trap," Merlin voiced his thoughts "but there are so many people involved with the planning, it would be difficult to get past them…"

"It would be difficult to take a student right from under our noses" Snape argued.

"Have you told Dumbledore any of this?" Merlin asked.

"I don't need to. I'm sure he knows more than we do at the moment, but the rules are binding, just as he said. There is nothing to be done"

"So, what?" Merlin asked, flailing his arms in annoyance "I'm supposed to wait around to be killed or hurt, or whatever this psycho has planned for us!"

"No," Snape answered, deathly calm "you are supposed to watch your back and tell me if you find anything suspicious so I can do what I can to protect the two of you"

"Why?" Merlin asked, confused about the way Snape seemed truly worried.

"I'm a teacher here, it's my job to protect the students" he said simply before storming out of the chamber, his black cloak billowing around him as he walked.

"Still not good at normal exits" Merlin mumbled to himself as he tried to prepare for the reaction from the rest of the school when he left the chamber.

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**I know, really short chapter. I usually try and make myself write at least 2,000 words, but the last few chapters, I've got more in than I planned with less words and I'm off track from my outline…. But the good news is that means I'll get more chapters done if they are shorter. Anyway, please review!**

** By the way, I have no idea where I'm going with the whole Snape/ Merlin conversations.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Well, after being threatened with Morgana, Merlin **_**and**_** Arthur, I had no choice but to write another chapter, hope you guys enjoy …**

Merlin took a deep breath and exited the chamber. As expected, everyone was still sitting in the Great Hall; silent, gawking faces all staring right at him. With a small nod of determination, he set his head high with fake pride and started walking for the door.

As he passed the rows his friends were sitting in, they stood from their seats and followed his trek down the Great Hall. With each added follower, his determination grew. It was amazing, the feeling of solidity that came from the support of his friends. It was enough to keep him from faltering in his walk to the end of the Great Hall.

As he was pushing the door open to leave the room, his friends surrounding him, someone shouted from the Hufflepuff table "Cheater!"

His feet stopped as a slow hum of a growing chant of _cheater, cheater_ filled the room. Merlin could feel his knees shaking and his heart beating in time with the chant. He was sure he would have stayed stuck to the spot he was standing on until the earth came up and ate him as the chant hung around his head like a buzzing fly had it not been for Arthur.

His brother put a comforting hand on his shoulder that was pushing forward just enough to get him moving. He let the hand guide him until he could no longer hear the chanting voices of his fellow students.

For hours, until the sky was full of stars and the moon was starting to set, he and his friends sat together. No one talked, but Merlin could have stayed there forever. He felt safe, as though everything he knew he would have to face the next day would never come.

When it did end however, his friends each silently gave him a sign of support, whether with a hug, a handshake or a pat on the shoulder, they all let him know they were there for him.

Tuesday, the day set for the first task before Cedric's disappearance, had Merlin wishing for nothing more than to hide under his bed rather than face the new day.

"C'mon Champ," Gwaine said past a yawn, stretching his arms over his head.

Merlin smirked at the nickname; leave it to Gwaine to make it a joke.

"Got to face those adoring fans some time" Arthur agreed, already in his school robes.

"You're dressed?" Merlin asked incredulously.

"Yes _Mer_lin," Arthur said "I am capable of dressing myself"

Merlin and Gwaine smirked before getting ready themselves.

Mordred was waiting for them downstairs, a smile on his face "Hey guys"

"Mordred" they greeted him. The whole room had their eyes on Merlin, silently watching for what, he had no idea. The four boys walked to the Great Hall ignoring the stares.

::::::::::::::::::::

Sitting in Potions class Merlin let out a sigh of relief at the thought of being in the last class of the day. In only half an hour he would be free to find somewhere to hide from the staring and the hissed 'cheaters'.

Professor Snape was glaring down his nose at Harry and Ron's potion. Merlin was somewhat pleased by the normalcy of seeing the ongoing war between Harry and Snape.

That, of course, is when the door was pushed open and Snape's current rant was interrupted.

"Professor Snape," Morgause said from the doorway "since the new champion was added, they have decided to have another weighing ceremony. If you please, Harry and Merlin need to come with me".

Snape glared at the blonde but did nothing more than wave Harry and Merlin a dismissal. Packing up their belongings, the two boys followed Morgause out into the hallway. At the edge of the steps, Morgause stopped and turned to look at them.

"It's in the same room as before Potter, there's time to put your things up if you want" she said just as dismissively as Snape's hand wave.

Harry looked between Morgause and Merlin "I don't' think I should"

Morgause rolled her eyes "Look, it's none of your business kid. Put away your little hero complex and give Merlin and me a minute"

Harry looked over at Merlin who gave a small smile and a nod "Don't worry about it"

"Are you sure?" Harry asked dubiously.

"Yeah, I can handle her" Merlin assured him. It was a testament to how much she wanted to talk to him alone that she said nothing to his allegation.

"Fine, but if you aren't at the weighing in ten minutes-"

"He'll be there, now go" Morgause huffed. With a quick glare in the witch's direction, Harry walked off toward the Common Room.

When she was sure he was gone, Morgause turned on Merlin, and holding her hand out in front of her, incanted "_Astrice!_"

Merlin, wand in hand, quickly shouted _"Protego!_"

His feet slid across the stone floor, but they stayed on the floor which he saw as a victory. Expecting another spell, he was surprised when the sixth year grabbed his shoulders and pushed him against the wall, leaning her head close to his ear to hiss "How!?"

Merlin fisted his hands around Morgause's elbows, attempting to push her away from him, but she was stronger than she looked.

"How did you get the cup to pick your name?!" she yelled, her face only centimeters from his own, making his ears ring.

"I didn't enter" he answered calmly.

She pulled him away from the wall so that he was standing on his toes, nose to nose with the blonde "Don't lie to me"

"I did not. Enter. My. Name" he enunciated, looking her straight in the eye.

She let his weight pull him down so that his feet lay flat on the ground, her hands sliding off of his shoulders as she took a step back "You're telling the truth"

"You believe me?" Merlin asked surprised.

Morgause frowned "Believe me, I don't want to. Go to the fourth floor, third room. Don't wait too long, I don't feel like dealing with two glory hounds in one day, and Potter can be way more annoying than you"

With that, she walked away, shoulders slumped just noticeably.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Merlin walked through the door off of the fourth floor to find a small classroom whose desks had all been pushed back against the walls with a few chairs left out for the champions and the judges. All five judges were already present, talking to each other quietly as they waited, except for Crouch who was sitting in his chair, looking off into space.

He seemed to be the first of the champions to have arrived, which was confirmed only a second later when Ludo caught sight of him.

"Merlin, early I see. Ready to get a head up over the other champions, good idea" he nodded his head as though impressed with a great strategy.

Merlin looked around the room to see a man with a large black camera, a woman wearing bright purple robes with jeweled eyeglasses and a very intimidating smile along with the wandmaker, Ollivander.

The door opened behind him and Harry and Krum entered the room, Harry looking relieved to see Merlin standing there with no evidence of having been cursed. Krum, looking put off at having to come back to this room, walked over to stand in a corner while Harry came over to stand next to Merlin.

"What did she want?" he asked.

"To know how I got my name in the cup" Merlin shrugged "just like everyone else in the school"

Harry rolled his eyes "not just the school. By the way, try and keep away from Rita Skeeter" he nodded his head at the witch who was looking at them in a very predatory kind of way, sucking on the end of an acid green quill "she'll twist anything you say"

Fleur walked in then and Ludo stood up from his chair where he had been trying to engage Crouch in conversation.

"Wonderful," he exclaimed "everyone's here, so let's not waste time shall we. Mr. Pendragon, if you'll give your over to Mr. Ollivander so he can make sure it is in working condition. Then we'll do a few more photos and we'll let you go back to class"

Merlin walked over to an expectant Ollivander, very aware of everyone looking at him as he handed over his wand.

"Ah, yes. An interesting case, this one…." Ollivander said "how has she treated you?"

He asked the question over the wand, glancing up at Merlin for only a second before returning his eyes to the wand in front of him, twisting it and turning it so that he could see every inch.

"Very well," he answered "no problems"

Ollivander nodded "As expected"

His eyes furrowed in concentration for a moment before saying "Ivy, with kneazle whiskers. Very particular about how she's treated, you should show her some more attention, Mr. Pendragon"

With that, he gave the wand a quick wave and a small explosion left the fading form of a dragon in the air for a moment before he handed the wand back over with a small nod. Ollivander turned to the judges "Now, if you have no more champions, I left my assistant in charge of my shop. Not a good idea, mind you"

Dumbledore nodded his head politely "Thank you, Ollivander"

"Of course," he answered with a slight bow of his head before leaving the room.

Ludo clapped his large hands together with a toothy smile and practically shouted "Photos!"

As the cameraman positioned each of them in different poses, Merlin let his mind wander to Ollivander's words. He knew he had never really given much thought to his wand, but he did not feel as though he had ever neglected it. Looking down at the wand in his hand, he could see no faults along its surface, nothing to make the man think it was being mistreated. In fact, it looked far better than most of his friend's wands which had worn indentations in the handle that fit their hands perfectly.

His too had indentations, but not as deep as many he had seen, and perhaps, that what Ollivander was hinting at. More often than not, when magic was concerned, he would find himself using more Old Magic than his wand magic. It just felt more natural… but perhaps it was taking its toll on his wand.

"I think that should do it" the cameraman stated as he took one last shot of Merlin, Harry and Dumbledore standing by themselves, the two boys looking incredibly short next to the Head Master. Dumbledore smiled, and Merlin was sure he could see relief hidden behind his eyes at the thought of getting out of the room.

"Brilliant," the woman Harry had pointed out as Rita Skeeter said, standing up with her hand clasped around the handle of a crocodile hand bag "If you don't mind, Dumbledore, I would like to get an interview with the newest champion"

"That, of course," Dumbledore said, with a noticeable glare in the woman's direction "is up to Mr. Pendragon"

A smile carved its way across the woman's square face as she set her eyes on him "What do you say Merlin, could I steal a few moments of your time for a quick interview?"

"I would actually—" he started to say no, but the woman had already cut her off.

"Lovely" she said, and grabbed him by the arm, pulling him over to a door off of the room. Behind him, Merlin could hear Harry call out a quick "Good Luck" before following the others out of the room.

"Any particular reason we're in a broom cupboard?" Merlin asked as he was pushed down onto a crate while the reporter took her own seat on an overturned bucket, her quill and paper set out next to her, the quill standing up on its own.

"A bit of privacy" she smiled what Merlin assumed was supposed to be sweetly. "Now, dear, how do you feel being the replacement for Cedric?"

"Ah, well, I didn't actually—"

"Of course not," she said, her smile widening "neither did Harry. About the two of you, you're good friends aren't you?"

"Um, not great friends, but we talk, yeah" Merlin shrugged his shoulders.

"So, did the two of you _talk_ before you entered your names?"

"What?" Merlin asked surprised "no, we didn't enter our names!"

"But you did talk" she stated "and how did you feel when Harry was picked and you weren't, hmm?"

"Quite glad actually" Merlin told her before she could interrupt him with another ridiculous question "I did not want to compete"

"Not without your friend at your side, yes I understand dear" she patted his knee reassuringly.

"Actually, you don't at all" Merlin said angrily, pushing away her hand and standing up.

"The two of you are a lot alike, aren't you? Both of you are foster children, if for different reasons, and both have had quite the busy past years at Hogwarts"

Merlin shook his head and walked toward the door.

"One more question dear," she said, and unknown to his self the reason he did it, Merlin stopped to hear her question "What do you think could have happened to Cedric to make the cup choose you to be the new champion?"

Without answering, he left a smiling Rita and a very fast paced Quill scribbling on its notepad behind him as he stormed out of the broom cupboard.

**That's going to cause a few problems **** By the way, people who read the **_**Daily Prophet**_** still think Harry and Merlin are close friends because of the picture being taken with Lockhart. **


	16. Chapter 16

When he shoved the door open and stomped out of the classroom, Merlin was surprised to find a grimacing Harry waiting across the hall.

"That bad?"

"Worse" Merlin huffed.

"Did you read my interview?" Harry asked, walking in step with Merlin as they headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Merlin shook his head. "At least there's one person who doesn't think I just randomly start crying at the thought of my dead mum"

"You can't be serious" Merlin groaned in sympathy.

"I'm surprised no one told you about it" Harry replied.

Merlin smiled humorously "My friends wanted to keep me away from anything to do with the Tournament. Thought I'd get myself into trouble somehow".

Harry laughed "Guess you showed them".

"Yep. I can get into trouble without even thinking about it" Merlin laughed.

They made it to the entrance of the Great Hall when Harry put a hand on Merlin's shoulder to stop him "Look, we aren't supposed to get help, but I know for a fact that the other champions know, so—the first task, it's dragons".

Merlin felt his heart drop into his stomach "What do you mean, _dragons?"_

Harry took a deep breath" Hagrid showed me, the night Cedric went missing. There are four of them, one for each of us. We have to get past them, that's all I know"

"_Dragons?!"_ Merlin gasped again.

"Yeah," Harry answered, fear and determination in his eyes.

"Great" Merlin mumbled "Thanks for telling me"

"Just doing what anyone would" Harry shrugged his shoulders and walked into the Great Hall. Merlin waited for a moment before following.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

In the end, Merlin decided not to tell Arthur or the others about the dragons, knowing they were worried enough without learning about the first task. Instead, he told them about Rita Skeeter which had the other three Gryffindor's bristling with anger. They talked for at least an hour before Merlin decided to go to the library and find something to help him face a dragon.

Only a few people were in the library, including Hermione Granger, a sixth year Ravenclaw, Viktor Krum and Tristan, another Durmstrang student.

Merlin spared a second to wonder if Krum was here to study dragons too, before throwing himself into a search for useful books.

As he read, Merlin noticed that Tristan and Krum stayed on opposite sides of the room while the Ravenclaw girl milled about the room, never settling and Hermione only moved to get another book. One or two people came in and left again once they had gotten what they needed. At one point, a group of giggling girls came in, hovering around Krum until Hermione had finally had enough of the noise and left. Krum did not stay much longer, and when he left, so did the band of giggling girls. After that, classes must have let out because more people began spilling into the room, and still Merlin had found nothing.

"How long have you been up here?" Lance asked, taking a seat next to Merlin as he shut yet another book in defeat.

"A few hours" he sighted, rubbing his eyes which were sore from staring at page after dusty page of useless books.

"How long is a couple of hours?" Lance asked, piling the books Merlin had already read into a neat pile.

"Since lunch" he answered past his hands which were holding his head up.

"Dinner is in an hour" Lance commented, looking through the books Merlin had not yet gotten too. "Dragons?"

"Don't tell anyone, please" Merlin said tiredly.

"That's the first task" Lance stated, awed.

"Yeah," Merlin agreed wearily.

"What do you have to do?" Lance asked.

"I'm not exactly sure," Merlin admitted "Harry didn't seem to know anything more than that they have one for each of us"

"How are you going to get past a _dragon_!?" Lance said, the problem sinking in. 

"No idea." Merlin admitted ruefully "Hope it's on a chain and the judges pull me out of there before I get eaten or stomped on"

"Yeah right" Lance snorted making Merlin look at him confused "You won't just wait to be saved. I don't know what you'll do, but I do know you'll do _something_"

"It's a dragon, Lance. How am I supposed to face a dragon?"

Lance stood up and put a hand on Merlin's shoulder "You, if anyone, will find a way to do this, I know it. Just don't forget to eat okay?"

Merlin gave a small chuckle as his friend walked away.

"Thanks for the confidence" he remarked quietly to himself.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The next morning Merlin received a letter from Gaius and he could feel the stare he knew he would be getting from his uncle coming from the barn owl in front of him.

"I don't want to open it" Merlin admitted to Arthur who was laughing.

"It can't be that bad" Arthur said. Merlin gave him a dubious look but opened the letter and read it aloud.

_Merlin,_

_What were you thinking?! How is it that you managed to enter yourself into the Triwizard Tournament, and how could your brother let you do something so dangerous!_

_I'm coming up tomorrow and getting you out of this. Try not to do something that would get you killed any faster._

_ Gaius._

"At least he didn't blame me" Gwaine said smugly. Arthur and Merlin scowled at their friend while Mordred laughed at their antics.

Harry came up to Merlin then, sitting in the open seat next to him and handed him a copy of the _Daily Prophet_. "Ron woke me up this morning by shoving this in my face. I thought you might be interested in reading it"

Merlin looked down at the front page of the newspaper to see a moving picture of himself standing with Dumbledore and Harry, a large caption over the picture reading 'Hogwarts Headmaster and his two underage champions'.

"God" Merlin moaned as the three shook each other's hands.

"Read the article on page two" Harry said with a scowl on his face.

_Merlin Pendragon, a boy of only fourteen, has recently been selected to replace Cedric Diggory, who has still yet to be found after disappearing from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In an interview with reporter Rita Skeeter, Merlin Pendragon was seen to be far too excited to have a place in the Tournament to feel very worried about the disappearance of one of his peers. _

"_It was my biggest dream to be picked as a champion along with my friend, Harry Potter. Of course, we knew we wouldn't be picked, the age restriction wouldn't let us" he laughed at his own words. _

_Merlin told Skeeter that he and Harry had been great friends since being sorted into the same house and learning just how alike the two boys were "It's hard living in someone else's house, knowing you don't belong there, and not knowing where you do belong. It's been something that's really connected Harry and me, and we've always been there for each other" _

_When asked how Merlin felt about seeing Harry become a champion without him, he replied "I was really excited for my friend of course, and I knew he was just as happy, but we were both a little upset I wasn't standing there with him. When it did finally happen though, and we both always knew it would, well, it was the greatest moment in both of our lives" _

"_Are you worried about facing the older competitors, or even facing your friend?" Rita asked, concerned about the boy's friendship struggling through the tournament._

"_I'm not worried at all. The best part of our friendship is our competiveness. We're always trying to be better than each other, pushing ourselves to do better. I know whichever of us wins, we'll be there to support the other. As for the older competitors, I'm not worried about them either"_

_When Skeeter asked Merlin about his feelings on Cedric's disappearance, he said he had no comment. _

"Right… so basically Merlin kidnapped Cedric, grew really cocky, and he seems to be in love with you, Harry" Gwaine commented after Merlin had finished reading the article.

The boys all laughed at Gwaine's joke and Harry went to sit with Hermione. Ron was sitting with his brothers, looking like he was doing his best not to look at his friend.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

That evening, Merlin found himself back in the library, once again surrounded by books about dragons. His wand was sitting on the desk in front of him where he had been previously twisting it around in his fingers as he read about dragon mothers being more vicious than the males or females without eggs to protect.

Just like the day before, only a handful of people were in the library, including the same four as yesterday. They seemed to have all taken up the same spots, other than the Ravenclaw girl who continued to walk around.

When Hermione had come into the library and spotted Merlin she could not stop the small giggle that escaped her lips, making her cheeks redden as she averted her eyes, still holding in laughter. Merlin sighed, having gotten the same reaction from almost the whole school throughout the day.

As had happened yesterday, a large group of girls found their way into the library and sat down in places that gave them a good view of Krum while they chatted and gossiped. Hermione was apparently in a shorter temper than the day before as it only took ten minutes of the mindless chatter to get her to evacuate the library. Once again, Krum was quick to follow, and this time, so was Tristan, leaving only Merlin and the Ravenclaw inside of the large library.

At one point, he thought the sixth year was going to talk to him as she crossed the room, passing by the table he was sitting at, but she simply kept walking, though she stumbled a little by the corner of his desk.

A few hours later, Merlin decided to give up and started replacing the books in their proper spots on the shelf. When he had finished, he reached down to grab his wand to find an empty desk in front of him.

Looking under the desk and around the edges of the shelves, he saw no sign of his missing wand. Worried, he turned to ask the Ravenclaw, who had finally taken a seat by one of the windows, if she had seen it.

"Hey, have you—" he started, but stopped when he saw the girl sitting with her legs crossed, leaning her back against the chair and a smirk on her face as she twisted his wand around in her hand.

"Took you long enough, kid"

Narrowing his eyes, he held his hand out, palm up and said "Give that back"

"Or what? I've got your wand" she reminded him, eyebrows raised. Instead of waiting for him to answer though, she tossed the wand to him, which he caught easily.

Stuffing it back into his pocket with a weary glance at the girl, he turned to walk away when she called out to him "Hey, don't you want some help with your dragon problem?"

Merlin turned back around "How—"

She smiled again "You've been in here two days in a row, looking at books about dragons. Being the newest champion, as well as only a fourth year… I'm guessing someone's worried about the first task"

"You sound like you know what it is" Merlin responded, still weary of the girl.

"Harry's not the only one who takes moonlit strolls out into the forbidden forest" she answered. "Unlike him, however, I didn't need a guide to find four, enormous fire breathing monsters"

"So you found them, does that make you an expert?" Merlin asked, setting his bag down, interested in what the girl had to say.

"Of course not," she admitted "but I am more knowledgeable than you"

"How so?" Merlin asked.

"Because I saw them, and I'm very good at picking up on small details" she answered.

"Such as?" he asked.

She shook her head "Uh-uh, you aren't getting this information for free"

"What do you want?" Merlin asked, starting to feel like whatever this girl had to say would be important in his efforts to stay alive in the first task.

"Really now, how's that for a boring conversation" she huffed "you have no idea how to play this game do you?" she pouted.

"What game?" he asked, a little annoyed.

She rolled her eyes before jumping down from her seat and walking over to stand in front of him. "My name is Isodle"

"Merlin" he answered and she nodded approvingly.

"I'm going to help you Merlin, but in return, you have to promise me something" she said, looking him in the eye.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You have to win" she answered.

"What?" he asked surprised.

"If I help you, you have to win. A few of us have a small bet going on, and I need to know that the person I'm going to bet on is going to pull through, got it?"

"Yeah, sure. If you tell me what to do, I'll win your bet for you"

"Great" she smiled. "The first thing you need to know, is that all of the dragons are nesting mothers"

"Which means there going to be extra vicious" Merlin groaned.

"It also means that if there are mothers, there are going to be babies" Isodle added making Merlin look at her curiously "They are going to have something precious that they will want to protect with their lives. The first task, will be to steal something from the mothers"

"No way" Merlin started shaking his head, there was no way he was going to be able to come out of this alive.

Isodle caught his chin and forced him to look at her "Listen, this is a good thing"

"How is this a good thing?" Merlin asked, desperately.

Isodle gave him another large smile "because, I'm the best thief there is"

**Well, Isodle showed up, and she's going to be very important in helping Merlin through the Tournament. Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

The Monday before the rescheduled date for the tournament arrived, and Gaius was meant to arrive today. It had been harder than he originally planned to take days off of work to come fight a battle he would inevitably lose.

This, however did not stop the man from showing up Monday morning with a meeting scheduled with Dumbledore and 'anyone he felt needed to be present'. This resulted in Merlin being allowed to skip his Monday morning classes to go to a meeting in the Headmaster's office.

Knowing he would be sitting through likely hours of nonessential talking, Merlin wearily followed the person sent to fetch him to the office. Merlin was mildly surprised when he was lead to a statue of a gargoyle and even more so when announcing the name of a piece of candy made it start spiraling upward.

At the top of the spiral staircase was a short hallway with an unremarkable wooden door set in the middle.

"Merlin!" cried his uncle, who had been standing just outside of the doorway, walking up and engulfing him into a hug.

"Hi Gaius" Merlin said, hugging him back. Gaius pushed Merlin an arms-length away, keeping his hands on the boy's shoulders so that he could look him up and down as though expecting him to already have some gaping wound just from being chosen for the tournament.

"Gaius," Merlin said pushing back further "I'm fine. The first task isn't until tomorrow"

"And if I have my way, you won't be competing" he said.

"I tried getting out of it already Gaius, they won't budge" Merlin protested.

"We have to try" Gaius responded. The two of them stood there in silence for another fifteen minutes and slowly they were joined by the other judges, until, at last, Dumbledore arrived.

"My apologies, we seemed to have had a small problem with our resident poltergeist. If you wouldn't mind, we could step into my office" he pointed his wand and the door which opened onto a neat office lined with moving portraits of the old Headmasters and Mistresses. With another wave of his wand, he conjured up enough seating for all of them as he took his own place behind his desk.

"Well then, I believe we are here to listen to Mr. Davies concerns about the Tournament" Dumbledore turned his attention to Gaius.

Gaius nodded his head in thanks to Dumbledore before saying "As Merlin's legal guardian, I would like to pull him from this tournament as he is an underage wizard who should not have been allowed to compete to begin with and also, he did not, nor does he now have my consent to compete".

Madam Maxime gave a huff of disapproval at Gaius's words "We have been over 'zis many times already. The rules say that we must let zey boy compete"

"She's right Mr. Davies," Bagman said, sitting back in his own chair "when he entered his name he submitted to a binding, magical contract. Whether he is underage, with or without consent, the cup chose him".

"But he says he did not enter his name" Gaius argued "that must change the rules".

"And we have discussed the consequences of that as well" Bagman said "he is still to compete in tomorrow's task".

"And have you discussed the consequences of _letting_ him compete?" Gaius asked, raising his eyebrow at the judges.

"What do you mean by that?" Karkaroff asked.

"I mean that this is a harsh tournament, it was designed to be, and that with a lack of the knowledge and experience that the older students have—the very reason you saw fit to put in an age restriction— he may very well get himself killed".

Merlin could see is uncle was desperate to get him out of the tournament and truthfully he would be grateful if he were able to. The problem was, he knew it was useless, and he was sure his uncle was just as aware of how useless it was.

"That is part of the contract, I'm afraid" Dumbledore said over his clasped hands.

It went on like that for the next two hours until Dumbledore turned to Merlin and said "Perhaps we should hear your opinion on this"

Surprised, it took a moment for him to get his words out "I—uh" the other adults were looking down their noses at him while Gaius and Dumbledore only looked mildly interested.

"I'm already in, and the first task is tomorrow. I had nothing to do with my name being put in the cup, and I have no desire to compete, but I don't want my spot to be taken by someone else.

"At the moment, my words are being twisted in the newspapers, I'm suspect in having done something horrible to a boy three years older than me and if I don't die tomorrow, I'll probably be walking straight into some kind of trap.

"That trap… I can't let someone else fall into it—I won't let them. I didn't choose this, but it happened and it can't be taken back, not now"

Dumbledore had a twinkle in his eye by the end of Merlin's speech and Gaius looked like he was trying not to be proud. Madam Maxime, Professor Karkaroff and Mr. Crouch looked bored while Bagman looked ready to place a bet on Merlin winning the cup.

Standing up, Dumbledore gave the room a satisfied smile and said "I think that settles the matter quite nicely. Mr. Pendragon, you are free to return to your lessons, and I thank the rest of you for your time. Mr. Davies, if you would like to stay for tomorrows—event—I would be happy to find you suitable accommodations"

"That would be welcome, thank you" Gaius nodded his head gratefully.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Once back in class, Merlin wished he were still in the meeting. If sitting between six semi-arguing adults was bad, sitting between hundreds of students hyped about the tournament was worse. Everyone had an opinion, a champion, and an outlandish idea about what would happen during the first task.

The Beauxbaton students were rallying for Fleur, which was no surprise to anyone. What was a surprise however, was when the three girls he had met from the school saying if Fleur could not win, they hoped he would.

Durmstrang stood with their own champion, even a pouting Cenred who looked like he did not belong with the other students who had faith in their friend. Tristan even put away his pride long enough to show his support to his school's champion.

Hogwarts which had so many more students present as well as two champions was dividend in its support.

Ravenclaw seemed the most evenly balanced, wishing both champions luck and saying they knew one of the two would pull through.

Slytherin, with a preexisting animosity towards Gryffindor and more namely, Harry, decided to give their support to Merlin. Merlin was unsure if this should be considered a good or bad thing.

Hufflepuff, suspicious and hurt by the loss of Cedric, vehemently denied Merlin's very existence and pretended there was only one champion.

Gryffindor was divided between the two. The Weasley's and the Quidditch team along with its more stubborn fans were rooting for Harry to win. Others, namely people who were friends with Arthur, Gwaine and Mordred stood behind Merlin.

The Knights, of course, rallied around their friend, giving encouragement every two seconds.

At the end of the day's lessons, Merlin made a quick excuse to get away from Merlin and Gwaine, something along the lines of some last minute preparations before the first task, which was not too far from the truth. In fact, the reason Merlin was sneaking off was to talk to Lance who was the only one who knew about tomorrow's task.

He found Lancelot walking with Leon and Gwen from the general direction of the dungeons having completed a potions class.

"Lance" he called out, getting the boy's attention.

"Merlin" he greeted with a small wave of his hand.

"Can I talk with you?" he asked giving Gwen and Leon a pointed glance.

"Yeah," he shrugged his shoulders at his housemates who gave confused smiles at the two of them before walking off "of course"

"I need to ask you a favor" he said, pulling his friend into a small alcove out of the way of anyone walking through the hallway.

"Merlin," Lance said knowingly "I can't keep them from watching"

Merlin shook his head "No. I know, and I'm not asking you to, but if you could do your best to keep them from leaping into the middle of my task to try and save me—" he let his sentence trail off.

"I'll do what I can, but you know better than anyone how they can be" he said, a fond smile on his own face.

"Thank you Lance" Merlin said sincerely, a smile on his own face, something he had been unable to do for days as the two boys shook each other's hands.

With a considerably lighter weight on his chest, Merlin made his way back to the Common Room. Unsure of where Gaius had been taken to for the night, Merlin decided he would spend the rest of the evening in his friend's company to try and keep himself from thinking too much on what was to come. These plans came to a halt when he found Harry Potter sitting by the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Forget the password?" he asked teasingly, receiving a chuckle in response.

"Not this time" he answered "I was waiting on you actually"

"Hopefully to tell me you were kidding the other day" he refrained from mentioning the dragons in front of the nosy portraits lining the walls.

"Sorry. I just came to say good luck before tomorrow" he smiled.

"Not the best, but thanks. Good luck yourself" he answered.

"I'll definitely need it" he snorted in humorously.

"Do you have a plan?" Merlin asked curiously making Harry give a nervous smile.

"More of a half thought out idea actually. What about you, any hope of getting the cup?" he asked looking ready to get off the subject of his plan.

"Well," Merlin said with some thought "I have one person betting on me if that says anything"

"More than I've got" Harry said good-naturedly.

Merlin looked at Harry curiously "I wouldn't be so sure. Most of the school is rooting for you"

"For now" Harry put in, knowing how easy it was for the students to change their minds.

"At least they don't think you killed someone" Merlin huffed.

Harry grimaced, the thought of Cedric being dead still hurt, but he joked back "No, they just think I'm best friends with the guy who did"

Merlin laughed with him "Harry, if one of us wins this…. What do you say we buy out the _Daily Prophet_ and get that witch fired?"

"Sounds like a good reason to try and win this stupid tournament" he replied before heading in to the Common Room. Merlin waited a few minutes before following him, not eager to help Rita's ridiculous stories.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

When Merlin finally laid down to sleep that night, he let Isolde's words run through his mind. He was unsure if anything she has said was true—that they would have to steal something from the dragons—or if her advice could even be applied to dragons.

"_You have to rely on distraction. Take your wand for example"_ she had said, making Merlin reach down to touch the smooth wood of his wand, just to make sure it was still there "_you had no idea that I had taken it until you were about to leave. Do you know why? Because you were busy with your books and when I stumbled by your desk you just put your nose further into those books" _she gave a small chuckle "_you didn't want to be distracted"_

_ "All you have to do tomorrow is distract it long enough to get whatever it is in and out."_

_ "You make it sound so easy" _he said _"but how am I supposed to distract a dragon?"_

_ "Well, what did all of those books say? Do dragons have good or bad eyesight, how well is there hearing, can they smell the difference between one person and another?"_

_ "Their hearing is great, and they have great eyesight. I don't know about their sense of smell"_

She nodded her head "_You have to make a lot of noise, something that's going to sound like a threat, but it needs to be far enough away from whatever your after that you won't be stepped on accidently. At the same time you're going to have to reduce the visibility in the arena" _

"Right," he mumbled to himself, rolling over in his bed "I'll just do that"

**So, for those of you who were slightly confused, she's not physically helping him steal the egg, she's just giving him advice on how to stay alive and hopefully win the first task—the same as Madam Maxime with Fleur, Karkaroff with Krum and Moody with Harry, and technically they all cheated. **


End file.
